NEWS
Energy firms unfazed by closure
Several energy firms operating in TT in statements recently each said the proposed closure of Petrotrin’s refinery will have no impact on their operations. One said it was “a difficult but necessary step”, while another said it might actually help their profit margins, while a third hoped to offer jobs to retrenched workers. These firms are British-based Columbus Energy Resources, Canadian firm Touchstone and United States firm Range Resources. Columbus in a stock market statement, said the restructuring of Petrotrin will not impede the extraction of oil from its Goudron field which it sells to Petrotrin. Read more here
Sad Petrotrin workers staying home
Days after announcing the planned closure of the Petrotrin refinery, board chairman Wilfred Espinet is warning employees about increased levels of absenteeism. He has also issued a strong caution to anyone who may be contemplating acts of violence to damage the company’s assets, saying they may be disqualified from getting any form of exit compensation. In an internal memo to staff dated September 3 titled “Clarification on Current Issues,” a copy of which the T&T Guardian obtained, Espinet admitted the company recognised that there was a lot of “uncertainty and anxiety” within the organisation. He noted that since the announcement of the refinery shutdown there had been a “noticeable increase in absenteeism throughout the company,” which can prove to be “counter-productive.” Read more here
Son gives statement on mom’s murder
The five-year-old son of murdered Palo Seco mother Tehilla St Clair told police yesterday what he witnessed when she was killed. Read more here
POLITICS
PM puts career on the line
So convinced is the Prime Minister that government has taken the right decision on the restructuring of Petrotrin, that he is prepared to put his political career on the line to prove it. Dr Rowley told a People’s National Movement (PNM) meeting on Tuesday night in Marabella – a stone’s throw away from the Petrotrin refinery, which is facing closure due to rising debt – if the decision will cost him the next general election, it is a price he is willing to pay. “I am prepared to sacrifice my parliamentary and my political future doing what is right for the children of TT.” He referred to newspaper columnists writing after the announcement of the closure, and separation of workers, that he had signed his 2020 election death warrant. Read more here
PM urges aviation workers not to protest
Ahead of Friday’s planned day of rest and reflection, Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley is warning Civil Aviation Authority workers that if they take the advice of the Public Service Association president Watson Duke to shut down T&T’s airspace, the Government will take them to court. During a joint press conference on Tuesday by the Joint Trade Union Movement (JTUM), National Trade Union Centre (NATUC) and Federation of Independent Trade Unions (FITUN), Duke called on members of the essential services to take a sick day to rest and reflect on the struggles the working class face under the ruling People’s National Movement (PNM). This category of workers also includes police, fire officers, prison officers and teachers. Read more here
Focus on redress for falsely accused
As the Ministry of Labour moves to implement a national workplace sexual harassment policy, calls have been made for more focus to be placed on redress for those wrongfully accused of sexual harassment. Read more here
BUSINESS
Make medical tourism our next boom
Petrotrin’s refinery will likely close. Even if it does not, any solution will result in thousands losing their jobs. Petrotrin is bleeding money and the treasury is empty. But we cannot directly borrow more without triggering a rating downgrade and higher interest costs. Whatever happens, there will be protests, discontent, and possibly more crime. This makes it more urgent to find new opportunities outside of oil and gas. Looking elsewhere, what can we do quickly and cheaply? Read more here
Shell’s presence in T&T a good signal
Prime Minister Dr. Keith Rowley says the presence of multinational oil and gas giant, Royal Dutch Shell, in Trinidad and Tobago is a major signal to other investors that this country is a good place to invest. Read more here
REGIONAL
Verbal Corruption! - NESol Paid Millions To Company Without A Contract, PAAC Told
"Verbal corruption" allowed the state-owned National Energy Solution Limited (NESol) to hire a private firm, Peak Energy Solutions Limited, and pay it millions of dollars for service rendered without a contract in place. That was the charge of Fitz Jackson, an opposition member of Parliament's Public Administration and Appropriations Committee (PAAC), at a meeting yesterday. The PAAC was told that Peak Energy Solutions was contracted by NESol, which was then headed by Carolyn Warren, and was paid more than $12 million for work it claimed had been done. This was verified by its then operations engineer, Laurence Pommels, who has since been arrested by the police after he was allegedly found with more than $35 million in cash. Phillip Paulwell, the opposition spokesman on energy, led the questioning during yesterday's sitting at Gordon House, which also heard concerns raised by Mikael Phillips and PAAC Chairman Wykeham McNeill. Read more here
INTERNATIONAL
Trump sees treason from within
It's impossible to know in the moment when a presidency begins to dissolve. But after a devastating 48 hours, it's already clear that Donald Trump's will never be the same. Whatever your view of Trump, his behavior and his presidency, Washington is watching the opening act of a stunning attempt to topple the elected leader of the nation. Damaging twin portraits of the President in a New York Times op-ed and Bob Woodward's new book are using the words of current top officials to fracture the mythology of vanity and bombast, conmanship and intimidation of Trump's personality cult. In an attack from an enemy within, top officials who see Trump up close, including one calling the band of renegades the "resistance," are finally daring to say -- albeit under Washington's invisibility cloak of anonymity -- what outside critics have long believed. Read more here
India court legalises gay sex in landmark ruling
6th September 2018