TTMA IN THE NEWS

TTMA sets goal to double manufacturing

The manufacturing industry has already established itself as one of the key contributors to TT’s economy, accounting for close to ten per cent of the nation’s GDP, according to some economic gurus. But, with demands of the nation consistently increasing, and with the changes in the energy sector augmenting the way the nation thinks of earning revenue, the need for the non-energy manufacturing sector to step up its game has become obvious, especially to the TT Manufacturing Association (TTMA). That is why, come November, the TTMA will be rolling out its five-year manufacturing plan with the goal of doubling the revenue garnered from exporting manufactured goods, which already stands at $8 billion. Read more here

NEWS

Youth leaders weigh in on Colm’s package

The budget presentation by finance minister Colm Imbert was marked by several initiatives geared at creating growth and opportunities in several sectors. These included making the agricultural sector tax free, increasing the minimum wage from $15 to $17.50 per hour and increasing the stipend for trainees of the On-the-Job (OJT) programme. In an effort to ascertain whether the budget presentation sufficiently addressed the needs of the nation’s youths, Newsday spoke to several leaders representing several youth-oriented organisations throughout the country. Read more here

Captive ‘congregation’

“This is like a hor­ror movie,” said a fam­i­ly mem­ber whose rel­a­tive was among 69 peo­ple dis­cov­ered locked in cages at the Trans­formed Life Min­istry Re­ha­bil­i­ta­tion Cen­tre in on the East­ern Main Road, Arou­ca, yes­ter­day morn­ing dur­ing a raid by po­lice. “I nev­er knew all this was hap­pen­ing here. I am lost for words. This is worse than bad treat­ment of an­i­mals. Had I known I would have done things dif­fer­ent­ly but I could not deal with my rel­a­tive who is men­tal­ly ill.” Of the 69 peo­ple res­cued, 65 were men and four were women. Some were hand­cuffed. They were all be­tween the ages of 19 and 70 years old. Read more here

POLITICS

Deyalsingh: They were getting act together

Minister of Health Terrence Deyalsingh said yesterday, the Transformed Life Ministry rehabilitation centre was in the process of improving the standard of its operations for it to be registered as an approved home under his ministry. At a press conference yesterday afternoon, held at the Ministry of National Security, Abercromby Street, Port of Spain, Deyalsingh said a team from the ministry – including the county medical health officer, the Division of Ageing and three officers from the Arouca police station, went there on June 21. But when they arrived, the medical officer determined what was happening there was more psychiatric in nature. Read more here

Ramadharsingh: Concerns were raised and dealt with

For­mer Min­is­ter of the Peo­ple and So­cial De­vel­op­ment un­der the Peo­ple’s Part­ner­ship Gov­ern­ment Dr Glen Ra­mad­hars­ingh, in con­demn­ing the hous­ing of the men­tal­ly ill and so­cial­ly dis­placed in cages at the Trans­formed Life Min­istry (TLM) in Arou­ca, said yes­ter­day that dur­ing his tenure as min­is­ter in 2013/2014 con­cerns were raised as to the method­olo­gies and it was dealt with. “There was mon­i­tor­ing and eval­u­a­tions and at some point the min­istry had to ter­mi­nate them in a con­trac­tu­al arrange­ment and if any­thing at all the min­istry did not get in­to any long term arrange­ment,” Ra­mad­hars­ingh said. He said in deal­ing with the plague of so­cial­ly dis­placed peo­ple, he did in fact tour the said fa­cil­i­ty but did not see any cages, hand­cuffs, signs of tor­tur­ing ex­am­ple tasers and ba­tons. Read more here

BUSINESS

NGC’s bright energy future

National Gas Co president Mark Loquan welcomes the focus on energy efficiency which Government has placed in the 2019-2020 budget. Given an increasing focus in the world on energy efficiency and renewable energy, Loquan says Government, and, by extension NGC – its natural gas operator – had to keep in step with the global movement. “The whole focus on the budget where you are using certain prices for gas and also paying attention to energy efficiency, and those kinds of things, they make sense in that picture,” he shared with Business Day, after participating in the TT Chamber of Industry and Commerce’s post-budget meeting at the Hyatt Regency in Port of Spain on Tuesday. Read more here

Hosein praises Govt’s ‘fiscal prudence’

Economist Roger Hosein praised the Government for its fiscal prudence over the past few years and said he was very comfortable with the state of the economy, up until last Monday’s budget. Read more here

REGIONAL

50m Reasons Why - Reid, Pinnock, Three Others Charged In Ministry, CMU Fraud

Investigators have charged that nearly $50 million of public funds was diverted to the personal use of discarded Education Minister Ruel Reid and Caribbean Maritime University (CMU) President, Professor Fritz Pinnock, through a number of schemes, including one that mirrors the Career Advancement Programme-Youth Employment Solutions (CAP-YES). The allegations, senior law enforcement sources say, are at the centre of the wide-ranging multimillion-dollar corruption probe by law enforcement agencies, which culminated yesterday with criminal charges being filed against Reid, Pinnock, and Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) Councillor Kim Brown-Lawrence. Read more here

INTERNATIONAL

Turkey Syria offensive: Heavy fighting on second day of assault

Turkish forces are stepping up air strikes and a ground offensive, as their incursion into Kurdish-held areas of northern Syria enters a second day. Turkey's military said it had seized designated targets. There are reports of heavy fighting in the central border region, and seven civilian deaths. Tens of thousands of people are reported to be leaving their homes. The assault on Kurdish-led forces, key US allies, follows US President Donald Trump's decision to withdraw US troops. Turkey says it wants to create a "safe zone" on the border for many of the Syrian refugees on its territory. But on Thursday President Recep Tayyip Erdogan threatened to send the refugees to Europe instead if it characterised the Turkish offensive as an occupation. Read more here

Republican anger grows as Trump disavows Kurds by saying they didn't help during WWII

Republicans savaged President Donald Trump Wednesday for allowing Turkey to attack US allies in Syria as the President offered varying reasons for giving Turkey the green light, including the fact that Kurds did not fight alongside the US in World War II. Turkey launched its military operation to flush Kurds allied with the US out of northeastern Syria sparking outrage in Congress, creating rare bipartisan unity about the risks to the Kurds, US national security interests, regional stability and the fight against ISIS.Trump apparently gave Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan the go-ahead on Sunday to proceed with his long-planned move against Kurdish fighters who make up part of the Syrian Defense Forces and who lost thousands of men fighting with the US against ISIS. Read more here

10th October 2019

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