​CHAIRMAN of the Trinidad Tourism Ltd and former Miss Universe 1977 Janelle “Penny” Commissiong said the number of visitors to Trinidad fell 3.6 per cent in 2017 from the previous year.
Making a comparison with the Bahamas, which has a population of about 400,000, Commissiong said 6.3 million people visited those islands in 2017, compared to 375,000 visiting TT, whose population is about 1.4 million.
She said the Bahamas was a well-developed traditional destination in close proximity to its primary market, while TT was a somewhat underdeveloped, non-traditional destination relatively remote from its most important market.
Commissiong, the feature speaker at a Rotary Club of PoS lunch yesterday at Fitzblackman Drive, Woodbrook, said she did not think crime caused the drop in arrivals to the country.
“We are not sure yet why the numbers have dropped 3.6 per cent, so one will have to do studies on that, do surveys to see what that 3.6 per cent is, and what time of the year that happens. But I really wouldn’t say it’s the crime, because we are here, we are in it.”
She said while visitors to the Bahamas could buy a package holiday to any one of its islands, interacting only peripherally with Bahamian staff and service providers, most visitors to Trinidad had personal business or other connection to a Trinidadian.
Commissiong said there was a clear difference and distinction between the core tourism product in the Bahamas and the basis of the initial tourism marketing and development thrust in Trinidad.
She said Trinidadians must make a conscious effort to acquaint visitors with its tourism products of reliable quality and good value for money and all consciously and actively become ambassadors, guides, promoters and providers of tourism services in Trinidad. Commissiong said many Trinidadians did not compute that it was Trinidad that most visitors came to.
“Now that the separation is there in terms of marketing, I think the focus is a lot clearer. I don’t see it as a daunting job because we have the product, a product which Trinidadians take for granted and don’t realise as a tourism product. It is about getting Trinidadians to understand we are in the game and have always been in the game.
Source: Newsday, Dec. 2018

News coming to hand is that Fred Mitchell more popularly known as The Mighty Composer passed away today.May his soul rest in Peace
The singer was born Fred Mitchell but was also known as Agba Olu Sino Amono.
His calypsoes were popular in the 1960s and 70s. He offered hits such as “Workers’ Lament”, “Supposing”, “True or Lie”, “Black Fallacy” and “Child Training”. He was also a master of ceremonies, comedian, impresario and tent manager.
As a pioneer, he was a foundation member of the first Calypsonians’ Association in Trinidad and Tobago. He was also a TUCO founding member and an executive member for many years.
Composer is known for portraying the Red Indian character, parading in the traditional mas category on Carnival Monday and Tuesday in San Fernando. He is fluent in Warao (Warahoo) speech. Apart from Warao, he is proficient in patois and he is also fairly versed in Yoruba which he uses at every opportunity.
On July 30, 2018, the Emancipation Support Committee (ESC) dedicated a concert titled “Shikamoo – Ancestral Rhythm” to Composer for his contribution to the art form.
The Swahili word Shikamoo means “I respect you”. ESC said the concert was in keeping with this tradition of respect and reverence for elders and ancestors.

​Balancing her studies with her spiritual growth has worked out well for Cassandra Khan who won the President's Medal, Gold for outstanding performance in the 2018 Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate examinations.
The 18-year-old Naparima Girls High School pupil, who lives with her parents Nancy and Haroun Khan at Ragoo Village, Wellington Road, expressed jubilation at her award.
In an interview, Cassandra said she was able to accomplish everything through the blessing of Jehovah God and his son Jesus Christ. 
"My father always said I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. It is a verse from the Bible which is my personal motto. I know that I was able to accomplish this because God has blessed me," Cassandra said.
Having written 11 subjects including Spanish, French, Chemistry, Physics, Biology, Maths and Additional Maths, Geography, English Literature and English Language as well as Dance, Cassandra was able to score 11 distinctions in all subject areas. 
She never studied Spanish and French in school but pursued the subjects on her own, doing private lessons with Spanish teacher Sherry Ragobar-Toolsie and her daughter Candi.
Cassandra said she was always involved in extracurricular activities but instead of detracting her from her studies, these activities strengthened her.
At the Diamond Evangelistic Centre, Cassandra taught Modern Dance, sang in the choir and participated in drama. 
Her father Haroun Khan who headed a Sunday School for decades in Ragoo Village honed her skills as a drama student. 
"I was stunned when I found out that I won the President Medal, gold. It was something I prayed for and I worked hard for it. I am just thankful that I was able to make my family and my village proud,"
Cassandra said. Asked what she wanted as a reward for her accomplishment, Cassandra responded, "I already have everything. I have a mother who is very encouraging and who prayed with me and for me always. I have a father who taught me how to persevere even when times get tough. I don't need a reward. I already got what I wanted and that was to make them proud."
Cassandra is currently in Lower Six and plans to pursue a career in geochemistry.
"I want to do laboratory work in the oil industry as well as a study of the earth. I love geography," she exclaimed. Cassandra thanked her teachers at Naparima Girls High School for motivating and assisting her.
Her mother Nancy said she heard of her daughter's success from the principal of Naparima Girls High School Carolyn Bally-Gosine. "I started screaming. My husband was dumbfounded and speechless. We were so excited and happy," Nancy said. 
Bally-Gosine said Cassandra was always a diligent and humble student.
She said the school has performed well in all subject areas at CSEC as well as the Caribbean Advanced Proficiency Examination (CAPE) Unit One and Two levels. 
"We had 100 percent passes. At the CSEC level, we had 24 places in the merit listing for the region. Our students are doing well across the board in almost every subject area. Cassandra was an all-rounder. She was great in her balance of subjects and she was able to accomplish a lot. She deserves the Presidents Medal. She said Cassandra was part of the school's musical, the Sound of Music as well as a participant at Sanfest and the National Dance Festival."
- by Radhica De Silva. Photo by Ivan Toolsie.
Source:  CNC3 November 2018

Trinidad and Tobago's best and brightest continue to shine as shown by Trinbagonian Zubin Deyal, who was recently awarded the 2019 Commonwealth Caribbean Rhodes Scholarship.
Rhodes Trust Caribbean said in a Tweet on November 20, 2018, that Deyal, 20, won the scholarship while at the University of the West Indies, Cave Hill campus. 
Deyal, son of journalist Anthony Deyal, studies Economics and Finance at the UWI Cave Hill and represented Antigua in swimming and youth cricket. 
Rhodes Trust Caribbean said Deyal will read for the MSc. in Economics for Development at Oxford University.
Edith Clashing, manager of the Wadadli Aquatic Racers swim club, congratulated Deyal via a Facebook post:
“Congrats to Zubin Deyal and his parents Indranie and Tony Deyal. This is indeed a proud moment for all of us. Zubin is a past member of the Wadadli Aquatic Racers (WAR)Swim Club and student of the St. Joseph's Academy. Keep reaching for the stars young man. Well done!”
In 2017, Trinbagonian Mandela Patrick was chosen as the 2018 Commonwealth Caribbean Rhodes Scholarship Winner and was selected out of nine other candidates to study at Oxford University. 
In 2016, Trinbagonian Simone Delzin won the prestigious scholarship for 2017, and prior to that, the scholarship was awarded to for­mer na­tion­al schol­ar Zahra Christi­na Gomes in 2015.


About the Rhodes Scholarship 
The Rhodes Scholarship is an international postgraduate award for students to study at the University of Oxford. It was established in 1902 making it the first large-scale programme of international scholarship.
The Rhodes Scholarship was founded by English businessman and politician Cecil John Rhodes, to promote unity between English speaking nations and instil a sense of civic-minded leadership and moral fortitude in future leaders irrespective of their chosen career paths.
Although initially restricted to male applicants from countries which are today within the Commonwealth, as well as Germany and the United States, today the Scholarship is open to applicants from all backgrounds and from across the globe.
Source: The Loop, November 2018

Lights out at Petrotrin yes­ter­day - and a new be­gin­ning for re­struc­tured com­pa­nies start­ing work on Mon­day.
That was the pic­ture as the life of the em­bat­tled state com­pa­ny flick­ered out on Gov­ern­ment's planned dead­line yes­ter­day, with re­struc­tured en­er­gy geared to kick off on Mon­day when 42 em­ploy­ees (so far) at its new com­pa­nies be­gin work.
En­er­gy Min­is­ter Franklin con­firmed the num­ber in the new com­pa­nies as he replied in Par­lia­ment to Op­po­si­tion queries on the clo­sure of Petrotrin op­er­a­tions and what would take place ahead.
Yes­ter­day's clo­sure of Petrotrin op­er­a­tions, mak­ing way for the Trinidad Pe­tro­le­um Hold­ing Com­pa­ny and its three sub­sidiaries, capped off Gov­ern­ment's "whirl­wind" three-month re­struc­tur­ing thrust an­nounced in Au­gust. The plan, which in­volved job cuts of all 3,500 per­ma­nent work­ers and ap­prox­i­mate­ly 1,400 tem­po­rary/ca­su­al work­ers, was fought all the way by the Oil­fields Work­ers' Trade Union.
Speak­ing to re­porters be­fore yes­ter­day's sit­ting, how­ev­er, Op­po­si­tion Leader Kam­la Per­sad-Bisses­sar said: "To­day will go down as a very dark day as the Petrotrin (cat­crack­er) flare and oth­er light­ing sys­tems have all gone out and with that light, thou­sands of work­ers are job­less and their fam­i­lies are fac­ing Christ­mas with lit­tle in their pock­ets."
Ac­cus­ing Gov­ern­ment of pres­sur­ing the Op­po­si­tion on the In­come Tax Amend­ment Bill to dis­tract from yes­ter­day's clo­sure of Petrotrin op­er­a­tions, Per­sad-Bisses­sar added: "The rea­son for this big 'dra­ma' on the bill is be­cause they've shut down Petrotrin to­day.
"I trav­el the Pointe-a-Pierre route very of­ten, the re­fin­ery flame was a land­mark, the re­fin­ery built in 1917 was there for 101 years. It was the econ­o­my's main­stay. So the Prime Min­is­ter knows the eco­nom­ic cat­a­stro­phe fac­ing us isn't this bill, it's be­cause Petrotrin's clo­sure will have far-reach­ing reper­cus­sions on T&T."
In Par­lia­ment, En­er­gy Min­is­ter Khan in Par­lia­ment, said, "As we speak, all (Petrotrin) plants and pro­cess­ing plants have been safe­ly shut down in ac­cor­dance with en­vi­ron­men­tal prac­tices. The re­fin­ery has been closed and steam plants are down.
"All hy­dro­car­bons have been re­moved and the en­tire plant has been placed un­der a ni­tro­gen at­mos­phere which is an in­ert at­mos­phere to save cor­ro­sion, fires and ig­ni­tions - and we're now go­ing out for a Re­quest For Pro­pos­als (RFP) for some­body to run the re­fin­ery."
Khan said the shut­ting down process­es are rou­tine op­er­a­tions that didn't re­quire any Cer­tifi­cate of En­vi­ron­men­tal Clear­ance, but not­ed that all ac­tiv­i­ties were un­der­tak­en in con­sul­ta­tion and un­der su­per­vi­sion of the En­vi­ron­men­tal Man­age­ment Agency.
Since there are no work­ers at the re­fin­ery now, he said a third-par­ty ser­vice con­tract has been award­ed to Damus Ltd (via pub­lic ten­der) to have staff mon­i­tor­ing the re­fin­ery, pro­vid­ing su­per­vi­sion and do­ing main­te­nance work.
"That's on as we speak," Khan added.
He didn't give the price of the Damus con­tract.
Go­ing for­ward from Mon­day, staff at the Her­itage Pe­tro­le­um com­pa­ny at San­ta Flo­ra and Point Fortin and Paria Fu­el Trad­ing Com­pa­ny at Pointe-a-Pierre will be on the job, Petrotrin ex­ec­u­tive of­fi­cials told the T&T Guardian yes­ter­day. They said Her­itage CEO Mike Wi­ley has been "on the ground" since Au­gust.
Khan in Par­lia­ment said, "As of to­day we've hired 39 se­nior and mid­dle man­age­ment man­agers. Of this, 16 are for­mer Petrotrin em­ploy­ees and 23 oth­ers (didn't work) at Petrotrin.
"At Paria Fu­el Trad­ing com­pa­ny, we've em­ployed three se­nior man­agers. Two are for­mer Petrotrin em­ploy­ees and one is a non-em­ploy­ee of Petrotrin."
Khan said no­body has been hired for the Guaracara Re­fin­ing Com­pa­ny Ltd, as that com­pa­ny will be the cus­to­di­an for re­fin­ery as­sets.
"There'll be very lit­tle em­ploy­ment there as there'll just be a cus­to­di­an and that em­ploy­ment will take place very short­ly," he said.
Khan said in­di­vid­ual state­ments were is­sued to all em­ploy­ees pri­or to clo­sure. He couldn't say if they were au­dit­ed, but as­sured the plan is in ef­fect and re­tirees are "all re­ceiv­ing their ben­e­fits."
Source:  Trinidad Guardian, Dec 1, 2018

Prime Min­is­ter Dr Kei­th Row­ley says the Min­istry of En­er­gy and En­er­gy In­dus­tries Franklin Khan is on the hunt for 50 en­gi­neer­ing grad­u­ates to fill spe­cial­ist roles with­in the min­istry.
Row­ley made the an­nounce­ment as he de­liv­ered the fea­ture ad­dress at the In­sti­tute of Elec­tri­cal and Elec­tron­ics En­gi­neers' (IEEE) Festschrift Con­fer­ence at the Hy­att Re­gency on Mon­day evening.
Speak­ing to the crowd of en­gi­neer­ing prac­ti­tion­ers and revered spe­cial­ists, Row­ley said tax­pay­ers had in­vest­ed a lot of mon­ey in the younger gen­er­a­tion, but de­spite many of them at­tain­ing their qual­i­fi­ca­tions they are lost with­in the sys­tem and many are now em­ployed.
“We have a lot of en­gi­neers in this coun­try who you (tax­pay­ers) paid for, in a va­ri­ety of uni­ver­si­ties, who are left un­der the floor and left to with­er some­where,” the PM said.
“I have in­struct­ed the Min­is­ter (of En­er­gy)…us­ing the skills of a for­mer per­ma­nent sec­re­tary, who’s vol­un­teer­ing, to go look in the sys­tem and see where we have aban­doned these peo­ple. “Some of them with the best train­ing com­ing from the best uni­ver­si­ties in the world and wind up aban­doned, ig­nored or frus­trat­ed some­where in Trinidad and To­ba­go or worse; would have been dri­ven out of Trinidad and To­ba­go as a re­sult of lack of ap­pre­ci­a­tion.”
He said Khan was in­struct­ed to give these new re­cruits spe­cial­ist po­si­tions so that they may de­vel­op the nec­es­sary skills to take the coun­try for­ward.
The PM said he hopes this ven­ture will be able to un­earth the coun­try's next Pro­fes­sor Ken­neth (Ken) Julien, whom he de­scribed as a key play­er re­spon­si­ble for de­vel­op­ing Trinidad and To­ba­go to where it has reached to­day.
Julien was al­so ho­n­oured at the event.
Row­ley al­so said he will be at­tend­ing a two-day meet­ing of the Cari­com Sin­gle Mar­ket Econ­o­my (CSME) at the Hy­att Re­gency next week. The key con­ver­sa­tion at the meet­ing, he ex­plained, will be al­le­ga­tions by oth­er mem­bers that Trinidad and To­ba­go has an un­fair ad­van­tage in Cari­com which needs to be ad­dressed. He said Cari­com coun­ter­parts were com­plain­ing that T&T man­u­fac­tur­ers were get­ting an un­fair ad­van­tage be­cause of cheap en­er­gy prices they were be­ing af­ford­ed here.
“I don't know what would be the out­come of that meet­ing but Trinidad and To­ba­go has forced that con­ver­sa­tion on the heads of Cari­com.” Source: The Guardian, Nov 2018

Some 130 res­i­dents of Fyz­abad were af­fect­ed af­ter flood wa­ters gushed in­to their prop­er­ties and homes yes­ter­day.
Fed up of this sit­u­a­tion, res­i­dents and Fyz­abad MP Lack­ram Bo­doe called on the au­thor­i­ties to fix the four of sev­en sluice gates which have been non-func­tion­al for sev­er­al years.
The ar­eas af­fect­ed were St John Trace, Av­o­cat, Ack­bar Trace and Chat­ter Av­enue.
Res­i­dent Rod­ney Ramjit, who owns a fur­ni­ture fac­to­ry at St John’s Trace, es­ti­mat­ed his loss­es to be more than $75,000.
He said, “The flood come up so fast I did not get time to move out every­thing. We save some things, but I lost a lot of fab­ric, foam and ma­te­ri­als.”
He said it be­gan rain­ing heav­i­ly on yes­ter­day morn­ing and by 4 pm the riv­er had burst its banks and the flood wa­ters start­ed to rise. He called on the Gov­ern­ment to dredge the riv­er and fix the flood­gates.
“The main prob­lem is that sev­en years now this riv­er not clean and then four flood­gates not work­ing. And that is the main prob­lem caus­ing this flood,” Ramjit said.
“We con­stant­ly com­plain­ing about it to the Min­istry of Works but they do­ing ab­solute­ly noth­ing. The min­is­ter came and looked at it at the be­gin­ning of the year, but noth­ing was done. I fed up of this thing. I have a busi­ness and I los­ing a lot of mon­ey.”
When the T&T Guardian called him lat­er on in the day, he said the flood wa­ters had risen again.
“Look the wa­ter com­ing up again. I have to call for help,” Ramjit said.
Bo­doe and his staff were yes­ter­day out in the floods ren­der­ing as­sis­tance to the res­i­dents and dis­trib­ut­ing wa­ter and food sup­plies. He ex­pressed con­cern about “gov­ern­ment’s re­luc­tance” to re­pair the sluice gates at St John Trace.
“As a re­sult of this the flood wa­ter, flow to the Godineau Riv­er and Gulf of Paria has been de­layed. I call on the Min­is­ter of Works again to ef­fect re­pairs to those sluice gates.”
Bo­doe al­so com­plained that he had re­ceived no help from the gov­ern­ment agen­cies.
“So far, it’s just my staff and some mem­bers of the com­mu­ni­ty who have been ren­der­ing help. The res­i­dents are in­di­cat­ing that the wa­ter is still ris­ing and they are a lit­tle bit fear­ful about what will hap­pen,” Bo­doe said, adding he and his staff will be out in the field to­day again ren­der­ing aid.
The Fyz­abad An­gli­can Sec­ondary School was closed yes­ter­day.
The Min­istry of Ed­u­ca­tion al­so said the North Oropouche Gov­ern­ment Pri­ma­ry, North Oropouche RC and Debe Hin­du SDMS Pri­ma­ry School were closed as a re­sult of the de­te­ri­o­rat­ing weath­er.
“There were al­so ear­ly dis­missals for sev­er­al oth­er pri­ma­ry and sec­ondary schools and Ear­ly Child­hood Care and Ed­u­ca­tion (EC­CE) Cen­tres be­cause stu­dents and teach­ers were not able to ac­cess the school com­pound due to flood­ing in the com­mu­ni­ties,” the min­istry added.
The Pe­nal Quinam Gov­ern­ment Pri­ma­ry School was opened as an emer­gency shel­ter for res­i­dents of Pe­nal/Debe and Bar­rack­pore who were hard hit by the floods.
​Source:  Guardian

THE GIRLS have done it again.
THE President medal winners for 2018 are Sadhana Balladin of St Joseph’s Convent, San Fernando and Amrita Singh of Lakshmi Girls’ Hindu College.4 

They were among the pupils of girls high schools who took the lions’ share of 376 national scholarships in 2018.
The list was announced by Ministry of Education Anthony Garcia on Thursday at the ministry’s office in Port of Spain, live on social media.
The schools which took the most scholarships was St Joseph’s Convent in Port of Spain (41), St Augustine Girls’ High School (34), Naparima Girls’ High School (31), Lakshmi Girls’ High School (24) and St Joseph’s Convent (18) in San Fernando.
The tops boys’ schools which were awarded scholarships were Hillview (35), Naparima Boys’ College (31), Presentation College Chaguanas (19), and Presentation College San Fernando (18)


Also awarded scholarships were - Couva East Secondary school (four), Debe Secondary School (one), St Francois Girls’ College (one), St George’s College (one).
Garcia identified St George’s College and Queen’s Royal College (QRC) as two schools which “normally do very well” but did not this year.
“QRC is not among the schools which have been awarded scholarships but I am sure that in the future they are going to improve. It has been a school that has been one of the bastions of academic excellence in the past. These things happen. Sometimes we have a year does not do too well but I am sure that the principal and students are going to step up to the plate next year and when these scholarships are being awarded they will be among those. Some schools that did exceptionally well for example St Joseph’s Convent, Port of Spain”, said Garcia.


He said overall that “most of our students have done well”.
Garcia said: “While we glorify and we are very happy with the performance of our students and we are very happy to know that we can award substantial number of scholarships, Cabinet was also very concerned about the apparent imbalance in terms of the number of scholarships that are awarded in particular areas of Mathematics and Natural Sciences. In Natural Sciences 188 scholarships were awarded and Mathematics 103 students received scholarships.
Garcia said that Cabinet decided to appoint an Inter-Ministerial committee that will do an in-depth analysis of the award of scholarships. In future scholarships should be closely tied to our developmental needs.
“In other words there are some areas to the continued development of our country and every opportunity should be given to our students so that they can do further work in these areas and this can assist us in the development of our country", he said.

Beverley Ramsey–Moore has been voted as the new president of Pan Trinbago.
Mrs Ramsey-Moore, current manager of Petrotrin Kat-zen-jammers Steel Orchestra, received 116 votes to beat out the other 7 candidates at the organisation’s internal elections on Sunday.
She replaces embattled incumbent Keith Diaz and has become the first woman to be in charge of the national pan body.
Ramsey-Moore contested the Pan Trinbago elections under the Team-Rebuild banner.
Mrs Ramsey Moore said her first order of business will be to review Pan Trinbago’s constitution with a particular focus on separating the powers of the executive and administrative arms of the organisation.
Former Port of Spain mayor Keron Valentine finished second with 54 votes.
Other candidates included Darren Sheppard, Keith Byer, Thecla Forde-Rodriguez, Vernon Morancie and businessmen Lawford Duprey and Robert Amar.
Source:  102FM