NEWS
150 rogue cops suspended in four years: CoP begs public to keep faith
Acting Police Commissioner Stephen Williams yesterday urged the public to keep the faith in the T&T Police Service as he promised to root out all rogue officers. He made the call even as an officer appeared in court charged with the robbery of two Chinese businessmen last week. Speaking at the weekly police press briefing at the Police Administration Building, Port-of-Spain, yesterday morning, Williams admitted that the T&T Police Service’s (TTPS) reputation had been tarnished by recent incidents in which police officers have been accused of committing crimes. Read more here
Colm: Online taxes stay
Finance Minister Colm Imbert yesterday said the taxes outlined in the 2016/2017 Budget are all “perfectly legal.” He said the Opposition United National Congress (UNC) is wrong about taxes being imposed illegally upon the population. Imbert made this point at a news conference at the Eric Williams Financial Complex in Port-of-Spain, 24 hours after Government chose not to debate the Finance Bill 2016 and three related motions to approve tax collection orders in the Senate on Tuesday. Read more here
POLITICS
‘My wife earned just $25,000’
Finance Minister Colm Imbert has refuted Opposition claims that his wife earned millions saying she validly earned just $25,000 (net) and this occurred under the former People’s Partnership (PP) government. He spoke at a People’s National Movement (PNM) really at San Juan on Tuesday. Read more here
Rowley on criticisms over recall of diplomat: They come home when I say
T&T diplomats, come home when I call. That’s the order from Prime Minister Keith Rowley who gave his position on Tuesday following contentions over Government’s removal of ambassador Eden Charles from a United Nations’ post. “When I put my signature that you come home, then you come home because I am the Prime Minister of T&T,” Rowley stressed at Tuesday’s PNM Local Government meeting in San Juan. He said he had taken a dim view of a recent editorial concerning the diplomat who had been asked to return. Read more here
BUSINESS
Entrepreneurship not for everyone
Lorcan Camps Chairman of the Biz- Booster Incubator at the Arthur Lok Jack Graduate School of Business at Mt Hope said on Monday that entrepreneurship is not for everyone. He said it requires drive passion a lot of sacrifice and a high appetite for risk add- ing that for every successful entrepreneur there are probably a hundred failures. Read more here
REGIONAL
Massive corruption comes to light in Curacao
There is massive corruption threatening to come to light in Curacao. From a leaked report of the Court of Audit for the years 2014 and 2015, it appears that ministers approved millions of guilders for projects when they did not have the authority to place their signature on any financial obligation documents.
Only public servants, who have been authorised by the ministry of finance, have the authority to sign these documents. The ministry has a list of all the public servants who are authorised to sign and it does not include ministers. In total would there were almost 700 work orders with a total value of more than 8 million guilders (US$4 million). The biggest culprit is the minister of social development, labour, and wellbeing, Ruthmilda Larmonie-Cecilia. In at least one case, she increased a grant of 40,000 guilders for a company belonging to a party member to more than 300,000 guilders. The current outgoing prime minister of Curacao, Dr Bernhard Whiteman, also ignored this crucial rule. Officials who questioned the ministers about breaking this rule were either transferred or punished for ‘improper conduct’. Read more here
Taking Flight ... Money, Benefits, Quality Of Life Causing Docs., Nurses To Flee Jamaica After Training
When 23-year-old medical student Aujae Dixon graduates next year, he intends to stay and work in Jamaica for the long haul. He doesn't expect the same for most of the class of 2017. "A lot of persons just plan to be here because they have to complete their internship," said Dixon. "As soon as it is over, many try to leave to the United States for further training. And they usually remain there." In fact, government data suggest that in recent years, eight in 10 Jamaican university graduates, including doctors, leave the country soon after gaining their degrees. Money, and the quality of life it affords people, is a major driver of this trek - at least that is what the majority believe about most of the health-care professionals who leave the island. Indeed, when the question - in a September survey for The Gleaner - as to why doctors, nurses, and other skilled health-care professionals emigrated, 73 per cent said it was about compensation. Read more here
INTERNATIONAL
US election: Clinton wanted to curl up after Trump win
Why hasn't Trump's transition team called the Pentagon?
President-elect Donald Trump's decision to have Mike Pence replace Chris Christie as the leader of his transition effort, and ongoing infighting in Trump Tower, is causing delays and confusion in Washington. Election Day was eight days ago, but Donald Trump's transition team has yet to contact the Pentagon, State Department or other federal agencies. And a move to purge some transition advisers and employees has further slowed the process of getting the incoming administration off the blocks. So-called landing teams, which President Barack Obama installed at federal agencies within days of the election for his own transition, had been expected to arrive in DC Monday. But Vice President-elect Pence's takeover of the team caused a cascade of delays. Read more here
17th November 2016