Port-of-Spain – The remark by Oilfield Workers Trade Union president general Ancel Roget that multinational oil and gas company BP could “take your platform and go”, was “unhealthy” for the country, Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley said last week. He added not only was the statement unacceptable, but at the same time it did not make Trinidad and Tobago’s investment climate competitive.
While acknowledging Roget’s statement as being inappropriate, Rowley noted Trinidad and Tobago remains “a free country, and leaders choose to lead their followers the way they see fit”.
Roget made the statement after BP pulled construction of the Angelin platform from Trinidad and Tobago. The decision followed discussions with Rowley and Minister in the Office of the Prime Minister Stuart Young with BP officials in Houston, Texas, last month. Critics said past labour stoppages on the fabrication of BP’s Juniper rig helped shift the fabrication of BP’s Angelin rig to Mexico, adding Roget’s behaviour may jeopardise future foreign investment.
Rowley was asked by the media if Roget’s comments had any impact on the country’s investment climate.
“I think BP was as disappointed as we were, because every single day we need to be attracting foreign investment to this country,” he said.
Rowley added workers have a responsibility to influence their leadership, to understand the reality before them, and what is needed within the current circumstances.
He noted BP’s decision to build the Angelin platform outside of Trinidad and Tobago had been taken a long-time ago. This was one of the reasons he met with top executives in the US last month to see if he could get the oil company to change its mind.
The decision against the Angelin platform was made after the contractor for the earlier Juniper project did not meet deadlines.
Rowley said it was a matter of concern when investors are picking up their plants in South America and taking them to North America, where gas is more available in terms of volume and price. Meanwhile, plants are closing in Trinidad and Tobago because of a lack of gas.
“That is not the kind of environment that attracts investment in the gas industry,” he said.
However, Rowley said hope remains since Trinidad and Tobago can get other energy platforms, which are to be constructed at La Brea in the future. These projects were on the “near horizon”, he said.
Said Rowley: “We did extract a commitment for BP to give serious and early consideration for some of these construction projects to be directed to La Brea at the earliest opportunity.”
He stressed if Trinidad and Tobago is to secure its economic future by cementing investment in the hydrocarbon sector, there had to be commitment and responsibility from the various leadership in the country. Leaders in all sectors had to recognise this country was competing with the world for investments, he emphasised.
“It is now for all of this country's leadership at every level, whether it be government, business or labour, to act responsibly in our quest to secure these vital foreign investments so desperately needed to maintain our standard of living in this small industrialised nation located in one of the most idyllic parts of the world,” he said.
“Don’t let anybody fool you. We have to be attractive in every which way to attract and secure foreign investment,” Rowley said.
Responding to Rowley, Roget indicated he would neither retract his statements, nor apologise to BP. He believed BP is leveraging “to be able to get more and more concessions”.
Said Roget: “There will be absolutely no apology, no retraction, because we are adamant that we are correct. Our mandate is to protect those who turn the wheels of the economy, because without them we have absolutely no economy.”
Trinidad and Tobago needs to ensure while accepting investments that it be done in strict adherence to the laws of the country and its codes.
“So once we have workers who at the end of the day construct the facility and go offshore and get the oil and gas out from beneath the sea, those workers ought to be treated with the highest level of dignity and respect and they ought to be working in a safe environment,” he said.
Roget advised Rowley to ensure Trinidad and Tobago makes good on any investment by ensuring that all independent regulatory bodies are in place to ensure the occupational, safety, and health agency and all of its inspectors are ready and up to the task.
“[Rowley] has to ensure that all of his line ministers are responsible for all of those agencies and that they do their work. The government has fallen on their job,” Roget said.
What it needs to do now is take a proactive approach and check on all of those agencies if the government wants to ensure they have investments beneficial to Trinidad and Tobago.
Roget said he will defend fearlessly all workers, noting they have charged him with the responsibility of ensuring their lives and limbs are safe, and they are in a good and healthy work environment.
“If we have to give Rowley a checklist of advice, it has to ensure regulatory bodies are up to mark and that they are functioning effectively with the mandate for which they were formed, and to ensure that industrial relations climate is conducive of investment both locally and foreign,” Roget said.

Port-of-Spain – Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley is describing Trinidad and Tobago as a “violent and lawless society” and admitting that there is “no area in crime fighting” he is satisfied with as chairman of the National Security Council.
He also expressed his own concern about corruption in the Police Service, which he said affects the flow of information to solve crimes.
With the murder rate climbing, Rowley said crime is “an intractable problem”.
He added: “What is required is a sustained response with the expectation that there would be successes in those areas.”
He said the litmus test is the success of security agencies. However, “I am not satisfied with anything in the area of crime management, crime detection, and suppression.”
He said the government was trying to “build the capacity of the defence mechanisms of the police, the Coast Guard, the Defence Force, the SSA, so that they could appropriately respond to those persons who have chosen crime as a way of life, and to protect those who might become victims of crime.”
Rowley added the solution was not in dismissing the Minister of National Security.
“It is easy to say change the minister. The last government changed four or five Ministers of National Security. If changing the minister every Monday morning was the solution, it would have been solved then,” he said.
He also spoke of frustrations in the appointment of a Commissioner of Police.
“We have an officer acting as commissioner on eight successive occasions, it is a source of great frustration for me. I would like to have it rectified but we have no avenue,” he said.
The decision is “stuck somewhere between the Director of Personnel Administration and the Police Service Commission,” he said.
However, in an effort to address the crime problem the government is “supporting the Commissioner in a variety of ways to ensure that he gets the best from the men and women working under him,” Rowley noted.
He said the government had established the Security Services Agency “as a more well organised information gathering unit to help the police.” But having information does not mean that information “will be used in the best way,” he added.
He also admitted corruption in the police service was an issue.
“It is fundamental to the creation of a police service that the population can trust, and that the officers can trust their colleagues, otherwise the police service will be operating without information. Unfortunately, in Trinidad and Tobago that is what we are working with,” he said.
He noted that in past five years the state had spent (TT) $25 billion on crime fighting.
Rowley also described the courts as “a place to park matters” and lamented that when the government goes to Parliament “to change the laws to handle things differently, people say leave it so because human rights of citizens affected. But when a criminal kills, the human rights of the person is also affected.”
On the issue of white collar crime, he said: “It is not a 100-yard sprint and it is also not a marathon. You can only follow the law and we are following the law to the letter, so that when the government acts the action can be sustained.”

Port-of-Spain – Attorney Nyree Alfonso claims the issue of corruption in the procurement process of the Super-Fast Galicia, the (US) $16,230-a-day vessel, which caters for cargo needs between Trinidad and Tobago, secured under the former People's Partnership administration, is a tactic to divert attention from the core issue that come April 21, there is no vessel to service the route.
She has said the reason has been the government's unwillingness to sign a charter party agreement since May 1, 2016, with Intercontinental Shipping Ltd.
"It seems to me that the government of the day has deliberately refused the services of a First World boat because it is a UNC/Nyree boat. This deliberate choice had placed the supply of goods to Tobago in an untenable and uncertain position," Alfonso said.
She was addressing issues raised in the public domain over the past week in Parliament and by senior members of the government, including Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley, Minister of Works Rohan Sinanan and Attorney General Faris Al-Rawi.
Last week, Rowley said the issue of the Galicia was on the way to the Office of the Attorney General "because of how the public has been manipulated, it is important the Government provide all the information and all the documents".
Rowley said there was "probably" criminal conduct in other quarters, describing critics as just mouthpieces for people who have had "their noses in the trough" in an arranged situation.
"You have people committing the government to expenditure of millions and millions of dollars, without appropriate authority. You see persons starting out at one end as lawyer for the port, and then being a broker for the boat," he had said.
Last week Al-Rawi said: "On the face of it, yes, there is corruption, including by those who were high office holders. The transactions are not on all fours. The timing, method and the particulars of the procurement held side-by-side with the Cabinet knowledge and approval are essential features of analysis in the report which I will produce."
Alfonso told the media she was surprised by the Attorney General's statements.
"I am disappointed that the AG would have made a comment on the surface of fact that he finds wrongdoing. One would have thought the AG would have investigated the facts of the matter before seeking to cast aspersions on the reputations of myself, Intercontinental Shipping and former board members of (the Port Authority of Trinidad and Tobago).
"The AG is well aware that parties who are being investigated for alleged wrongdoing must be granted an opportunity to be heard and more importantly, to be advised of what specific allegations are being made against them. I would have thought that the AG, as a practicing attorney himself, would understand that it is wholly incorrect to impute wrongdoing against any person without thoroughly investigating any allegations,” she said.
Additionally, "The AG must be mindful that these premature findings of alleged wrongdoing have the real potential to damage the reputation of all those persons involved in the procuring the Super Fast Galicia for the sea bridge. Having said that, I welcome the investigation that the AG is engaged in because I am certain that it will reveal no wrongdoing on my part."
Alfonso has been an attorney with a 26-year tenure in the court system of Trinidad and Tobago. Twenty-four of these years have been spent in maritime practice. She also holds a post-graduate diploma in Maritime Law.
In outlining the chronology of her involvement in the process, she insisted she was a lawyer and had never acted as a broker.
She said the former chairman of the Port Authority of Trinidad and Tobago, Joseph Toney had first contacted her to help source a suitable replacement "on an emergency basis”.
Said Alfonso: "I attended an open meeting at the offices of the PATT which included members of the Board of Commissions and senior and executive management. I agreed to assist the PATT in sourcing a vessel for urgent use on the route," she recalled.
Given her network, she secured six vessels within a week available for charter for a minimum period of one year. She also noted PATT wanted a six-month charter.
"I found the Super-Fast Galicia to be the vessel that best met the criteria provided to me by the PATT's management team in respect of age, speed, cargo capability and draught (the depth of water the vessel's haul can manoeuvre in).”
Her involvement ended there, she said.
"I have heard the minister (Rohan Sinanan) making allegations against me under parliamentary privilege in the public domain," she said.
Additionally, "The focus of Government and PATT has to be on securing a replacement for the Super-Fast. This is an attempt to divert the people of Tobago from the real issues. The base of this problem, it is the failure of the government to put in place a charter party agreement for the use of this vessel or any other vessel from May 1, 2016, to the current period," she said.

Port-of-Spain – There are options the government will have to consider if the shortage of foreign exchange continues to plague the local economy, Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley has said. Although not saying what these options are, current options being exercised may or may not prove beneficial in the long run.
Asked what the government was doing about the forex shortage, Rowley said preference is given to certain categories including manufacturers and pharmaceuticals. They are given preference because they are producing something, he said.
“They are creating employment, and in fact, they should be exporting and earning foreign exchange, but there is no guarantee that [this] would work. If the manufacturer earns foreign exchange and does not put it back in the system after given preference – that will not fix anything,” he said.
The numbers show that the amount of forex Central Bank is putting into the system, if it is properly distributed, “we should be better off than we are right now,” he said.
Asked if the problem was in the banking system, Rowley said, “The problem is all around. You see a sign offering (TT) $8 for a US dollar. You know that is illegal, but every policeman in Trinidad and Tobago would pass that there and not ask anybody a question. That is what is happening.”
Admitting there is not enough forex to meet all demand, Rowley said, “We as a government is saying to the banks, there are priorities...manufacturers, pharmaceuticals, public debt.”
Nevertheless, as a nation of distributors and with some captains of industry having made their reputation by being distributors, he said: “If they do not get enough foreign exchange to buy and distribute they believe the country is falling apart.”

Port-of-Spain – Experts are warning Trinidad is showing shrinkage at its coastlines as the ocean encroaches more and more on the shores.
Last week experts said Columbus Bay in west Trinidad has shown the coastline has retreated by 150 metres since 1994, with the loss to the ocean of 6.5 hectares of land.
Similarly, the western part of Guayaguayare’s shoreline has been retreating annually by approximately one metre per year. In Cocoa Bay, north of Manzanilla, the retreat is slightly more accelerated at 1.45 metres annually.
“The country is shrinking in some parts but it might be expanding in others, but the number of areas where it is shrinking is a lot more than the areas where it is expanding,” said Michele Lemay, Integrated Coastal Zone Management Specialist at the Inter-American Development Bank.
Lemay has spent much of the past two decades in the region doing research on coastal erosion and providing expertise on the subject.
She noted in the last decade from 2005 to 2015, there has been a five-fold increase in Trinidad of storm events, erosion and flooding when compared to the decade prior. This has also coincided with an increase in coastal erosion, she said.
“Trinidad and Tobago is becoming more vulnerable and when you think about the cost of this in terms of getting to work, taking kids to school, damages to property and household, you see the more obvious effects,” she said.
She added: “It happened in Matelot and Grand Riviere, before that it happened in Manzanilla and Mayaro. We found that the frequency of erosion and flooding in the coastal zone has increased considerably, even in Tobago. Sea level rise is going to worsen things and speed it up, but we do know that up to the year 2100 there is a potential of one metre increase for sea level rise, but I think in Trinidad and Tobago there is more research needed to bring down the global models and come up with local numbers.”
Lemay said the Caribbean was more vulnerable than other places because countries are on the hurricane zone or have more frequent storms.
“Caribbean islands are very densely populated so there are a lot of infrastructure along the coast. The more you build your shoreline, the more you create circumstances where you can have coastal erosion.”
She said the IADB had made recommendations for government to focus on priority areas for mitigating measures.
The areas identified were Speyside in Tobago, Mayaro, Guayaguayare area, Cocoa Bay, and San Souci as they are worse affected in the sense that when events happen, flooding or erosion they affect communities which are isolated.
“The idea is to promote people to stay at least 50 metres away from the shoreline for construction. Sometimes you have private ownership of land right up to the beach. You can tell people, this is your private property but do not build hard structures too close to the ocean.”
Lemay said Trinidad and Tobago already had an advantage over other countries in the region in terms of research from the Institute of Marine Affairs and installation of a Coastal Protection Unit under the Ministry of Works in 2014.
Said Lemay: “What is needed is much closer monitoring of the shoreline. You can measure how it retreats, in some cases it moves forward or becomes more steep which is a clear sign of erosion.”
Additionally, “Our shorelines in the Caribbean are very vulnerable to storm events, flooding and erosion and traditionally the solution has been to build emergency structures when houses start losing their land and things like that. An integrated approach combines technically advanced solutions with regulatory measures and science. The work of the IMA and coastal protection unit is going in that direction.”
She noted other measures needed to take place such as involving residents of affected communities in solutions like planting mangroves across the shore.

Port-of-Spain – Minister of Sport and Youth Affairs Darryl Smith has urged young people to consider a career in agriculture and not to only pursue “cushy office jobs”.
Smith was speaking last week at the 2017 Youth Leadership Conference hosted by the Caribbean Youth Development Network at The University of the West Indies, St Augustine.
Noting that the majority of university students were studying in areas of law, science and medicine, Smith said there are significant opportunities in the agriculture sector that could generate millions of dollars.
However, he said young people seem to be disinterested in this field.
“For some reason we’re not getting young people, we’re not getting new people into farming,” he said.
He said this was not only a problem facing Trinidad and Tobago but other countries in the region.
“Grenada was the food basket of the region. And they are having major, major problems to get young people to farm. Everybody likes the nice cushy job...but at the end of the day we have to be able to feed ourselves and feed our families to survive,” he said.
Smith added he intended to go into farming when he retired from politics.
He said developing the agriculture sector was even more crucial now in order to reduce dependency on the energy sector.
Smith said young people have an important role to play in the development of Trinidad and Tobago and they are the country’s “greatest resource”.
He said as the minister with responsibility for youth affairs, he has been pushing for youths to be appointed to State boards so young people will have representation at the highest levels.
Smith noted a youth policy is currently being drafted that will enhance youth development in Trinidad and Tobago.
“We want to ensure that the young people have a voice and work with us with regards to the decision making of the country,” he said.

Port-of-Spain – Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley last week confirmed Cabinet has taken a decision to close down the special purpose company, Community Improvement Services Limited. Rowley gave this confirmation in response to a question from Couva South MP Rudranath Indarsingh in the House of Representatives.
The Prime Minister explained the government has done a general evaluation of the State Enterprise sector.
He explained that on a “case by case basis”, companies within the sector will be examined.
Rowley said if these companies have outlived their usefulness or strayed from their mandate, a determination will be made if dissolution is the best option.
The Prime Minister also said the “vast majority” of State Enterprise companies have complied with a directive to submit their financial reports by March 31 and this will better inform the government about the true state of their respective affairs.
Recently, the government took decisions to dissolve the Tourism Development Company, Caroni Green, and the Government Human Resource Service Company Ltd.