Carib Scope

标签： Trinidad and Tobago

特立尼达和多巴哥

  • ‘Something not adding up’

    ‘Something not adding up’

    A cloud of uncertainty has settled over the small, sleepy coastal community of Goodwood, Tobago, as rescue teams and local residents press on with a frantic search for 2-year-old Angelo Tobias Plaza, who vanished from his family home three days ago. The toddler’s unexplained disappearance has left locals unsettled, with many growing increasingly suspicious that the details surrounding the case do not align.

    According to official police accounts, Angelo’s mother, 22-year-old Kalifah Tobias, and her common-law husband Shannon Miller first realized the boy was missing at approximately 7:30 p.m. Monday. The pair immediately combed the surrounding neighborhood and questioned nearby residents, but their initial efforts to locate the child turned up empty. The toddler, who is described as mixed-race with a light brown complexion and round face, was only wearing a diaper at the time he disappeared.

    The Tobago Divisional Task Force was officially alerted to the missing toddler case early Wednesday morning. During preliminary ground searches, responding officers spotted what they believed to be the young child’s body floating in the waters of Goodwood Bay, but the corpse slipped back beneath the rough ocean surface before it could be recovered. Divers were called to the scene shortly before midday to begin recovery operations, but hazardous sea conditions on the exposed Atlantic coast of Tobago have repeatedly derailed all attempts to retrieve the remains.

    Angelo’s grandmother Neisha Tobias spoke publicly from the search area Wednesday, visibly overcome with grief. “I am heartbroken. He is a loving child; he would not go into the water just like that. I don’t know what happened, I am still trying to figure that out. Till they find him I don’t know what to say. The police said they hold up the search because the water really bad,” she told reporters.

    Alvin Douglas, a marine safety and security expert who led a team of three volunteer divers through the bay Wednesday morning, confirmed that severe sea conditions made the search extremely dangerous. “I got a call from the Police Service asking for assistance on a search and recovery. At that time I did not get the details, so we mobilised a team of rescue divers. We are surrounded by water and most of the villages are along the coastline, so it is inevitable that these things will happen. On the Atlantic side of the island is where the island is exposed, so it is very difficult,” Douglas explained in an interview with the *Express*.

    Local doubts about the official account of the disappearance have been growing among Goodwood residents, who say key details provided by Angelo’s caregivers do not add up. Neighbor Wendy des Vignes, who spoke directly with Miller about the case, told reporters that Miller admitted both he and Tobias left Angelo alone at home on Monday while the pair traveled up the road to collect money from a relative. He told des Vignes the child went missing from the unoccupied house some time after the couple left. Multiple local residents gathered near the search site Wednesday, with several engaging in heated arguments over conflicting accounts of the day Angelo disappeared.

    Local authorities have already mobilized support services for the family: the Victim and Witness Support Unit has been assigned to assist Angelo’s relatives, while the island’s Child Protection Unit has been formally notified of the incident.

    Ackel Franklyn, Assistant Secretary for Community Development and Social Protection, joined local leaders at the search site Wednesday to express solidarity with the family and community. “Being a father of young children it is really a state of unrest for me as well, so I just came to stand in solidarity with the villagers and members of the family in such a time as this. I have spoken to a few members of the family, and they are all at this time quite emotional. I just offered my support more or less, allowing them to know that the Executive Council stands with them even through this time,” Franklyn said.

    David Thomas, Member of Parliament for Tobago East, also spoke publicly Wednesday, saying he was deeply distressed by the incident and echoed growing concerns that the toddler may have been left unsupervised for an extended period. “I want to sympathise with the persons who would have lost the child. I still find that in our society today we are paying little attention to children, and almost every day we are hearing about incidents where children are compromised, and it hurts me deeply and I hope that it’s not because of an act of carelessness…I just want to encourage the wider society of T&T to let’s take care of our children. They represent our future, they represent our development and they represent our prosperity,” Thomas said.

    Thomas added that he opted to send his field staff to gather updates on the search rather than attend the site in person, as he feared he would be too overcome with emotion to function, noting the case reminded him of his own children and grandchildren. “I think that we need to increase our value system in terms of preservation of lives and the protection of our children,” he emphasized.

  • Faris removed from Privileges Committee

    Faris removed from Privileges Committee

    A high-stakes parliamentary controversy in Trinidad and Tobago has resulted in the removal of Opposition Senator Faris Al-Rawi from the Senate Privileges Committee, as the panel prepares to launch a formal investigation into alleged improper interference by Al-Rawi and fellow Opposition Senator Janelle John-Bates. The controversy centers on the pair’s involvement in drafting and editing a witness statement for former health minister Terrence Deyalsingh, which was submitted to the Senate’s Public Administration and Appropriations Committee (PAAC).

    During yesterday’s plenary sitting of the Senate, Senate President Wade Mark confirmed a series of appointments to the Privileges Committee for the duration of the inquiry, which was formally referred to the panel on May 1, 2026. In the reshuffle, Minister of Transport and Civil Aviation will take the seat previously held by Government Senator Darrell Allahar, Opposition Senator Dr Amery Browne replaces Al-Rawi on the committee, and Independent Senator Sophia Chote steps in for Independent Senator Michael de la Bastide. Al-Rawi, who has publicly stated he is serving as Deyalsingh’s legal counsel, will not participate in the committee’s work while he is the subject of its investigation.

    The privilege dispute was first raised on May 1 by Government Senator David Nakhid, who filed a formal complaint against John-Bates and Al-Rawi over their documented contributions to the witness memorandum submitted to PAAC. Forensic traces in the document — including tracked edit history and embedded metadata — confirmed that both senators made direct edits and provided input to the witness statement. Nakhid argued that active involvement by sitting parliamentarians in preparing or revising witness submissions to a legislative committee undermines the institutional independence and integrity of the parliamentary process, and may constitute contempt of Parliament. He emphasized that all parliamentary committee proceedings must remain fully free of political interference and any attempt to coach witnesses ahead of testimony.

    After reviewing the complaint, Senate President Wade Mark ruled that the allegations were serious enough to warrant a full investigation by the Privileges Committee. John-Bates, a former member of PAAC, has already issued a formal apology to the full Senate and offered her resignation to Opposition Leader Pennelope Beckles. As of yesterday, Beckles had not announced a final decision on the resignations of either John-Bates or Al-Rawi. John-Bates was absent from yesterday’s sitting due to illness, so People’s National Movement (PNM) Deputy Political Leader Sanjiv Boodoo was sworn in to serve as acting Opposition senator for the session.

    Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar waded into the dispute yesterday, publicly asserting that Beckles lacks the institutional authority to remove Al-Rawi and John-Bates from their senate positions. She went on to launch a scathing attack on the PNM and its leadership, claiming that Beckles is waiting for direction from what she called the party’s “fake elite financiers.” Persad-Bissessar argued that the PNM operates as little more than a political front for these wealthy, unaccountable backers, accusing Beckles of continuing the policies of previous PNM leaders Keith Rowley and Stuart Young — policies she claims prioritize low-wage menial work for ordinary supporters while protecting billions in benefits for connected elite interests.

    The Prime Minister also criticized Beckles and the PNM’s policy agenda as regressive, contrasting the government’s current priorities of advancing artificial intelligence data center development, national economic revitalization, new international trade agreements, education modernization, and expansion of both energy and non-energy economic sectors with what she described as the PNM’s 2030 vision: reviving the outdated CEPEP and unemployment relief program (URP) workfare schemes.

  • No hantavirus in T&T

    No hantavirus in T&T

    Public anxiety over a purported hantavirus outbreak in Trinidad and Tobago was rapidly quelled on Wednesday by top national and regional health authorities, who confirmed that no confirmed or suspected cases of the virus have been detected in the country, and labeled widespread social media claims of school closures and national lockdowns as entirely fabricated misinformation.

    Minister of Health Dr. Lackram Bodoe was the first to issue a public reassurance, addressing the spread of false documents circulating online that claimed to be official Ministry of Health releases. The first fake statement claimed all schools across the country would close for two weeks in response to unreported community hantavirus detections, while a second forged document even alleged an imminent national shutdown and closure of all international airports. Speaking in an interview with local outlet TV6, Bodoe firmly condemned the spread of the false content, emphasizing that none of the measures outlined in the posts reflect official government policy. “There are zero confirmed or suspected cases of hantavirus in Trinidad and Tobago right now,” Bodoe clarified, pushing back against the panic stoked by the fake posts. He also noted that while the World Health Organization has reported a small cluster of cases linked to an international cruise ship traveling toward the Canary Islands, that event does not pose an immediate threat to the country, and there is no justification for widespread public alarm.

    Regional health leaders echoed the national government’s reassurance during a dedicated virtual press conference hosted by the Caribbean Public Health Agency (CARPHA). CARPHA Executive Director Dr. Lisa Indar confirmed that there is no evidence to suggest hantavirus is currently circulating in either Trinidad and Tobago or any other Caribbean nation, in the wake of the May 3 outbreak reported on the cruise vessel MV Hondius. She was joined at the briefing by other senior CARPHA officials, including the director of the Surveillance, Disease Prevention and Control Division Dr. Horace Cox, director of Corporate Services Dr. Mark Sami, and head of CARPHA’s Medical Microbiology Laboratory Dr. Gabriel Escobar.

    Indar explained that the underlying geography of the Caribbean makes sustained local transmission of hantavirus extremely unlikely: the specific rodent species that acts as the natural reservoir for the virus is not native to any Caribbean island, meaning there has never been a documented case of local hantavirus transmission anywhere in the region. While she stressed that the chance of any cases emerging in Trinidad and Tobago remains very low, Indar confirmed that CARPHA is prepared to investigate any suspected reports thoroughly alongside the Ministry of Health, and will not take potential threats lightly. She also addressed the wave of misinformation that has spread alongside the cruise ship outbreak news, noting that CARPHA is working closely with national health officials to correct false claims and provide the public with accurate, evidence-based information.

    In a clinical breakdown of the virus, Indar noted that the human-to-human transmission event linked to the cruise ship is extremely rare, and requires either intimate or extended close contact with an infected person to occur. The incubation period for hantavirus ranges from one to six weeks after exposure, and while there is currently no specific antiviral treatment approved for the infection, supportive care including oxygen therapy and close clinical monitoring can improve patient outcomes.

    As of press time, the World Health Organization has reported a total of eight confirmed and suspected hantavirus cases linked to the MV Hondius outbreak, including three fatalities. Indar noted that it remains unclear whether two recently reported cases in passengers from the United States and France are included in this global count. CARPHA is currently working alongside global health bodies, including the WHO, to maintain ongoing monitoring of the outbreak and track any potential spread to the Caribbean region.

    Even as officials emphasized that there is no current risk to local communities, Indar encouraged all Caribbean residents to maintain basic preventive hygiene habits that reduce the risk of a wide range of infectious diseases, not just hantavirus. These include regular and thorough handwashing, avoiding close contact with individuals showing signs of illness, and taking appropriate precautions when entering environments where rodents could potentially be present.

  • PNM blasts Lee over HDC ‘chaos’

    PNM blasts Lee over HDC ‘chaos’

    A brewing political storm in Trinidad and Tobago has intensified after the main opposition party, the People’s National Movement (PNM), publicly called for Housing Minister David Lee to step down, citing mounting allegations of mismanagement, lack of accountability and a disturbing attempted bribery scandal tied to the state-run Housing Development Corporation (HDC).

    The controversy ignited following an investigative report published by the *Sunday Express*, penned by journalist Mark Bassant. Bassant revealed that last Thursday, during a meeting on Ariapita Avenue in Woodbrook, an unnamed man claiming to act on behalf of a senior HDC official offered him undisclosed financial compensation to drop the planned investigative story. The man reportedly told Bassant that senior HDC leadership wanted to avoid negative public attention for the agency at this time, and that in exchange for killing the story, he would also provide the reporter with internal documents alleging mismanagement that occurred during the previous PNM administration.

    When contacted by the *Sunday Express* for comment on the allegations over the weekend, Minister Lee distanced himself entirely from the situation, claiming total ignorance of the incident. “I have no idea or information about what is reported in the articles,” Lee said. “I, as minister, don’t get involved in the running of HDC or any State agency under my purview. Also, I don’t get involved in any procurement process!”

    That response has drawn sharp condemnation from former Housing Minister and current PNM spokesperson Camille Robinson-Regis, who launched a scathing attack on Lee in an official statement released Monday. Robinson-Regis argued that Lee’s repeated “I don’t know” responses to growing crises in the housing sector prove he is unfit to hold office, and that he must either take responsibility for the chaos on his watch or resign honorably.

    Robinson-Regis emphasized that the attempted bribery incident is far from an isolated problem. Over the course of the last several months, she said, the Trinidad and Tobago public has watched a steady stream of controversies, confusion and ethically questionable decisions emerge from the housing sector, with Lee consistently appearing unaware, uninformed or completely detached from the operations of his own ministry. She listed a litany of outstanding concerns, including controversial handling of public housing allocations, widespread delays and incomplete construction projects, and persistent confusion over the actual number of finished housing units versus projects that have only broken ground.

    She also highlighted two particularly high-stakes issues currently under scrutiny: the government’s decision to regularize squatters who illegally occupied HDC-owned housing units, and a $3.4 billion Design-Build-Finance public procurement program that is now being formally investigated by the Office of Procurement Regulation. Multiple complaints have been filed about the program, including claims of selective tendering that excludes long-established local contractors, and unreasonably compressed bid deadlines for projects requiring more than $100 million in financing.

    These ongoing issues have fueled growing public concern over transparency, accountability and regulatory oversight across the entire housing sector, Robinson-Regis noted, yet Lee has once again fallen back on a claim of total ignorance. “It raises a serious and troubling question for the people of Trinidad and Tobago—when will the minister ever know what is happening in his ministry?” she said. “If the minister cannot do the job, then he needs to do the honourable thing and just resign.” On behalf of Trinidad and Tobago’s citizens, Robinson-Regis demanded answers: what does Lee actually know about the operations of his ministry, who is actually making key decisions for the housing sector, who is exercising required oversight, and why does the minister consistently only learn about critical controversies after they become public knowledge?

    Robinson-Regis rejected Lee’s attempt to distance himself from responsibility, reminding him that a cabinet minister is not a spectator or a sideline observer. She cited Section 79 of Trinidad and Tobago’s Constitution, which clearly states that a minister assigned to a government department holds responsibility for general direction and control over that department. Ministers are individually accountable for all activities of their portfolio, answerable first to Parliament and ultimately to the people of the country, she said.

    Public office comes with mandatory accountability, Robinson-Regis stressed. Cabinet ministers are tasked with shaping policy, making key decisions, and ensuring optimal management of all human, physical and financial resources allocated to their portfolio. “They cannot enjoy the authority and prestige of office while distancing themselves from controversy whenever serious questions arise,” she said. If Lee is truthful about having no knowledge of the critical issues unfolding in his ministry, she added, the country is forced to confront an even more alarming question: who exactly is running Trinidad and Tobago’s housing sector?

  • Tampering at fire scene

    Tampering at fire scene

    A months-long probe into a devastating commercial blaze at Trinidad and Tobago’s Globe City Plaza has been forced to an early end after unauthorized intruders compromised the fire’s origin site, law enforcement officials confirmed this week. The case has officially been classified as undetermined, with final procedural reports currently being compiled by the Central Division’s Fire Prevention Investigation team.

    Acting Deputy Chief Fire Officer Ansar Ali shared details of the botched investigation in a phone interview with local outlet *Express*, explaining that tampering with the secured crime scene left investigators unable to pinpoint what sparked the fire that destroyed a third of the Chase Village commercial complex two weeks prior. The probe had been advancing through a coordinated multi-agency cleanup effort, with the Trinidad and Tobago Fire Service (TTFS) partnering with the country’s Defence Force and Ministry of Works to remove thousands of tons of fallen rubble in a search for critical evidence of the fire’s cause. Given the scale of the blaze and the volume of debris to be moved, the site-clearing process stretched over several days, Ali noted.

    During the final stages of evidence gathering, however, investigators made a troubling discovery: intruders had breached the eastern perimeter wall of the burned section, gaining unauthorized access to the zone that had been formally identified as the fire’s point of origin. Once inside, the intruders removed critical evidence, including scorched wiring and building components to strip out sellable copper. “They pulled out all the wires and all the things that were burnt and they compromised the scene. All the electrical wires that were left, the copper wires, all of it was removed from the site,” Ali said.

    With the TTFS investigation formally closed, the case has now been transferred to the Trinidad and Tobago Police Service for further review. The massive fire broke out two Tuesdays ago at the multi-tenant complex, which hosts at least 15 separate small and medium businesses ranging from retail shops and food outlets to medical clinics and professional service providers. Founded by local businessman RS Jaglal, who also leads several connected firms including RS Jaglal Hardware Ltd and Globe Manufacturing and Marketing Ltd, the plaza is a key commercial hub for the Chase Village area.

    When the fire first broke out, the TTFS launched a rapid joint response from its Central and South Divisions, which lasted for nine consecutive hours. Firefighters’ efforts successfully protected more than 50 percent of the building, saving three major components of the complex: the front-facing hardware store, the western wing mall space, and an on-site foam factory. Ultimately, only three businesses suffered direct damage from the blaze, but the disruption extended far beyond the plaza’s walls: thick plumes of smoke blanketed the surrounding neighborhood, authorities were forced to close the nearby Chase Village overpass, and traffic backed up on both northbound and southbound lanes of the adjacent highway, leaving motorists stuck in multi-hour delays as emergency vehicles and onlookers crowded the area.

    An initial damage assessment pegs structural losses to the complex at roughly $4 million, Ali said, though a full accounting of total losses—including the value of destroyed inventory and business assets—will not be available until investigators can fully assess the contents of the burned section. Local elected official Jearlean John, Member of Parliament for Couva North, visited the fire site on the day of the blaze and expressed deep sorrow for the business owners who lost their livelihoods. “It is extremely sad when people sacrifice for their families, for their dreams to lose it all in this terrible and unfortunate event. I will visit the families,” John told *Express* via WhatsApp the day of the fire.

  • Support for Nelson name change

    Support for Nelson name change

    A planned renaming of Trinidad and Tobago’s Nelson Island, announced by Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar during a joint visit with Indian External Affairs Minister Dr. Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, has drawn broad approval from local historical experts—though many are calling for the new title to honor the site’s full, multifaceted past rather than centering only its connection to Indian indentureship.

    Persad-Bissessar framed the change as a long-overdue tribute to the so-called jahaji legacy, marking the entry point for more than 143,000 Indian indentured laborers who arrived at the island between 1845 and 1897, after the abolition of chattel slavery in the British colony. To guide the process, the Prime Minister announced a steering committee led by Natasha Barrow, Permanent Secretary in the Office of the Prime Minister, in partnership with the National Trust of Trinidad and Tobago. A public-facing website will also be launched to open the naming process to community input, allowing residents to submit their own suggestions for the island’s new title.
    In her announcement, Persad-Bissessar did not ignore the island’s other layers of history, noting that long before the indentureship era, enslaved Africans were forced to build British military fortifications on the site. In the 1930s, it served as a detention camp for Jewish refugees fleeing rising Nazi persecution in Europe, and it later held prominent Trinidadian labor leaders including Tubal Uriah “Buzz” Butler and George Weekes. Still, the Prime Minister emphasized that the island’s core historical identity is most strongly shaped by the hundreds of thousands of indentured laborers who passed through its quarantine and processing facilities before being dispatched to work on Trinidad’s sugar and cocoa plantations.
    Leading local historians have broadly praised the initiative to replace the current name, which derives from 19th-century island owner Dr. Thomas Neilson, a figure historians agree made no lasting meaningful contribution to Trinidadian national life. “There is no problem in setting aside his name,” noted retired history professor Bridget Brereton, one of the nation’s most prominent scholars of colonial Caribbean history. Brereton called the renaming plan “quite appropriate,” arguing that the site’s central role in processing indentured immigrants makes a name honoring that legacy fitting. “Thousands of indentured immigrants from India went to the island to be inspected, examined, and in some cases quarantined before they were sent out to the plantations,” she explained. For her own suggestion, Brereton proposed “Arrival Island,” a simple title that acknowledges the moment that shaped the ancestry of a large share of modern Trinidad and Tobago’s population. She added that while it is impossible for any single name to capture every chapter of the site’s past, a title centered on the arrival of indentured communities is a reasonable and respectful choice.
    Other historians, while supportive of the renaming as a whole, have pushed for a more inclusive approach that accounts for the island’s full timeline of use. University lecturer Dr. Jerome Teelucksingh commended the government for moving to preserve and elevate the island’s history, but emphasized that the site’s story stretches back long before the indentureship era, starting with its original occupation by Trinidad’s First Peoples. In addition to the Jewish refugees and colonial-era labor leaders detained there, Teelucksingh noted the island was also used to incarcerate Black Power movement leaders including Khafra Kambon and Makandal Daaga in the 1970s. “Nelson Island isn’t just about indentureship; it goes further than that,” he explained. “I support the name change, but whatever name the committee comes up with has to encompass the broad history that reflects the island.”
    History lecturer Dr. Sherry-Ann Singh echoed that call, urging the process to be carried out responsibly to honor all layers of the site’s past. While she acknowledged that the island served its longest and most prominent role during the indentureship era, it functioned for other critical purposes before and after that period. Done correctly, she said, the renaming will become a meaningful commemoration of a core part of Trinidad and Tobago’s shared national history.
    Historian Dr. Aakeil Murray also welcomed the government’s move, framing the renaming as an opportunity to reflect the modern identity of Trinidad and Tobago’s diverse population. “It is necessary that a change in name reflects who we are becoming and who we are now as a people,” he said, adding that the new title should account for the island’s diverse history rather than being tied exclusively to the arrival of Indian indentured laborers.

  • Gopeesingh slams ‘mischief’

    Gopeesingh slams ‘mischief’

    A brewing public dispute over healthcare service integrity has emerged in Trinidad and Tobago, after the North Central Regional Health Authority (NCRHA) launched a forceful rebuttal of circulating social media claims surrounding recent nurse resignations and a critical oxygen system incident at two of its major facilities. NCRHA chairman Dr Tim Gopeesingh has labeled the spreading narratives “mischievous” efforts to sow unnecessary division and public anxiety, pushing back against assertions that the departures of three nursing staff were tied to poor working conditions or operational failures at a newly opened hospital ward. As the public health body pushes back against what it calls deliberate misinformation, it has also revealed new details about ongoing nursing recruitment and service improvements across its network.

    The controversy ignited after unsubstantiated claims began spreading across social media platforms, prompting the NCRHA to issue two formal official statements on Friday and Saturday, followed by additional comments to local media outlet *The Express* from Gopeesingh. Addressing the nurse resignation claims first, the NCRHA clarified that none of the three departing registered nurses were ever assigned to or worked at the recently opened Adult Medical Ward at the Eric Williams Medical Sciences Complex (EWMSC) — directly contradicting rumors that their departures stemmed from problematic operations or unsafe conditions at the new facility. All three resignations, the authority confirmed, were driven exclusively by personal circumstances: two nurses moved to new roles at other regional health authorities that were closer to their homes, while the third opted to leave to pursue full-time advanced academic study.

    Gopeesingh emphasized that out of the NCRHA’s total workforce of approximately 1,200 practicing nurses, the overwhelming majority remain deeply committed to delivering high-quality patient care, and the small number of recent departures has not disrupted service delivery across the authority’s footprint, which serves half a million residents and handles roughly 20,000 patient encounters each month. Contrary to claims of a mass staffing exodus, Gopeesingh noted that the authority has recently hired 51 new nursing professionals, 48 of whom have already been placed in key roles across high-demand departments including Accident and Emergency and intensive care units. These new hires are currently completing hands-on supervised training alongside experienced senior nursing staff, and the NCRHA has already published new open recruitment advertisements to continue expanding its nursing complement.

    The second set of social media claims addressed by the NCRHA surrounded an incident at the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) of Mt Hope Women’s Hospital, where online posts suggested a prolonged oxygen outage put vulnerable infant patients at severe risk. The NCRHA confirmed that a temporary low-voltage fault did occur at approximately 1:58 p.m. during the incident, which did impact line pressure in the facility’s oxygen system and triggered automatic safety alarms. But the authority stressed that its established contingency protocols were activated within seconds: a standby reserve oxygen supply was immediately brought online to ensure uninterrupted care, and engineering and maintenance teams from the NCRHA, alongside technical representatives from the system’s external supplier, were on site rapidly to resolve the underlying fault. At no point during the incident were any patients denied oxygen or placed in danger, the NCRHA confirmed, and all ventilated NICU patients received continuous medical care and support throughout the incident. The fault was fully stabilized quickly, and the system has remained under close continuous monitoring by clinical, technical and supplier staff ever since.

    The NCRHA has directed sharp criticism at the Trinidad and Tobago National Nursing Association (TTNNA) for spreading what it calls “unverified, sensational and alarmist statements” about both incidents before pursuing any independent fact-checking or verification of the claims. Gopeesingh specifically called out TTNNA president Idi Stuart, accusing him of deliberately peddling false information to create disharmony among nursing staff and win professional support through fearmongering. The authority warned that the spread of these false narratives poses real harm: it undermines public confidence in the country’s public healthcare system, causes unnecessary emotional distress to vulnerable patients and their families, and can disrupt the smooth delivery of critical care services. The NCRHA also confirmed that it is reserving all legal rights and remedies to pursue action over what it deems false, defamatory statements that have damaged the reputation of the authority, its leadership and its frontline healthcare professionals.

    Alongside its rebuttal of misinformation, Gopeesingh highlighted tangible recent service improvements across NCRHA facilities. Previously, 30 to 35 patients from the emergency department often faced extended waits for available inpatient beds, but recent operational adjustments have created 51 additional available beds, making it possible to place patients from the ER on short notice — a shift Gopeesingh called unprecedented at the authority. The NCRHA is also currently working to strengthen its patient escort system and refine inpatient admission criteria across all wards to further improve care flow and service quality. Reaffirming the organization’s commitment to transparency, patient safety and uninterrupted care delivery, the NCRHA assured the public that all services remain fully operational, and oxygen supply systems across all its facilities continue to be monitored closely to prevent future incidents. Gopeesingh closed by extending public recognition to the NCRHA’s nursing workforce, praising their ongoing professionalism and dedication to patient care, and urging staff to maintain their focus on delivering compassionate, high-quality care with full institutional support.

  • National prosthetics centre launched

    National prosthetics centre launched

    On a historic Saturday in Siparia constituency, Trinidad and Tobago Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar formally opened the country’s first permanent National Prosthetics Centre, a landmark collaborative project between the Trinidad and Tobago government, the Government of India, and U.S.-based non-profit Jaipur Foot USA. The opening ceremony was attended by India’s Minister of External Affairs Dr. Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, marking another milestone in the deepening bilateral partnership between the two nations.

    In her keynote address delivered at the centre’s Penal compound on Clarke Road, Persad-Bissessar framed the new facility as a transformative step forward for the Caribbean nation’s differently-abled community. For years, Trinidadian patients requiring prosthetic limbs faced a daunting set of barriers: they were forced to travel abroad for care, absorb prohibitive treatment costs, and endure months-long waiting periods for life-changing support. Now, all essential prosthetic and rehabilitation services will be provided completely free of charge to citizens right at home, eliminating those systemic barriers.

    “This centre does more than provide physical devices—it restores dignity, confidence, and independence to thousands of our citizens,” Persad-Bissessar emphasized. “It opens the door for people to return to work, to participate fully in their communities, and to live life on their own terms.” The project embodies her administration’s core promise to expand specialized healthcare access and ensure no citizen is left behind due to disability, she added.

    Beyond serving domestic needs, the new centre is poised to reshape prosthetic care across the entire Caribbean. Persad-Bissessar noted that the facility positions Trinidad and Tobago as a regional hub for specialized rehabilitation, with capacity to treat patients from across the Caricom bloc and eventually grow into a regional training centre for prosthetic expertise. She tied the project’s success to the 2025 state visit of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, saying the centre stands as tangible, people-centered proof of what bilateral cooperation can deliver for ordinary communities.

    This latest initiative expands a growing healthcare partnership between the two nations, which already includes joint development of haemodialysis units, pharmaceutical cooperation, and the deployment of two sea ambulances to Trinidad and Tobago. Persad-Bissessar offered public gratitude to both the Indian government and Jaipur Foot USA for their partnership, noting that she was moved to “tears of emotion and joy” after reviewing patient testimonies from a preliminary prosthetic fitment camp held at Divali Nagar last year. That camp, organized with support from the Indian High Commission in Trinidad and Tobago, was the first of its kind held outside of India, a distinction she highlighted while praising the work of High Commissioner Dr. Pradeep Singh Rajpurohit and his team.

    Speaking at the ceremony, one early beneficiary of the partnership, limb recipient Joshua Gloud, shared his excitement about the permanent centre. “It is an encouragement to see that something like this is taking place in our nation,” Gloud said. “I really thank the honourable prime minister and everyone that has done everything possible to get this done, and I look forward to all the good this centre will do in the years ahead.”

    Trinidad and Tobago Health Minister Lackram Bodoe echoed that sentiment, framing the centre as a practical, compassionate response to a long-unmet national need. Operating under the oversight of the Ministry of Health and the South-West Regional Health Authority, the facility will clear the existing backlog of patients waiting for prosthetic care while meeting ongoing demand into the future. Local energy firm Heritage Petroleum Company Ltd supported the project by facilitating acquisition of the centre’s building, Bodoe confirmed.

    The centre will deliver a full spectrum of care, from initial patient assessment and prosthetic fitting to long-term follow-up care, while also building local capacity by providing technical training for Trinidadian healthcare workers. “Right now, more than 200 patients are on our waiting list for prosthetic services and follow-up care, and work is already underway to see those patients,” Bodoe said. He added that clinical teams have already taken measurements for the first two patients, who will receive their custom limbs in the coming weeks.

    In his remarks at the inauguration, Jaishankar reaffirmed the Indian government’s long-term commitment to supporting the centre and expanding access to care. He noted that demand for prosthetic services was far higher than initial projections from last year’s fitment camp, and India is prepared to go the extra mile to meet that growing need.

    “Following the success of last year’s camp, we as partners to Trinidad and Tobago recognized how transformative this permanent service would be for this country,” Jaishankar said. “This initiative does more than restore mobility—it reduces vulnerability, strengthens human dignity, and imparts the self-confidence that lets people rebuild their lives.” He commended Prime Minister Persad-Bissessar for prioritizing the project and locating the centre in her own constituency, a choice that reflects her deep personal commitment to supporting vulnerable communities, and confirmed that India will continue providing all necessary support to the centre as it grows.

  • I don’t know, says Lee

    I don’t know, says Lee

    A growing corruption controversy surrounding Trinidad and Tobago’s $3.4 billion suspended housing development program has put the government in the spotlight, after a local newspaper exposed an attempted bribe to scrap an investigative report into alleged bid-rigging at the state-run Housing Development Corporation (HDC).

    The Sunday Express, the outlet that broke the story, revealed that a self-described intermediary for an HDC official under investigation arranged a closed-door meeting with the paper’s investigative journalist Mark Bassant last Thursday on Ariapita Avenue in Woodbrook. During the meeting, the intermediary, a well-known figure in local political circles, offered a substantial cash compensation package to Bassant on the condition that the outlet drop the story entirely. In addition to the payout, the man also promised the journalist exclusive internal documents detailing alleged mismanagement of the HDC during the previous People’s National Movement (PNM) administration, according to the report.

    The intermediary explicitly noted that senior figures at the HDC wanted to avoid the negative public scrutiny that would come from the publication of the collusion allegations. The Sunday Express immediately rejected the bribe offer, reiterating that the probe into the HDC contract awards is a matter of critical public interest that demands full transparency.

    The sequence of events that led to the attempted bribe began last week, after the newspaper received complaints of collusion in the awarding of two large contracts under the housing program. Reporters then sent formal questions to both the implicated HDC official and the two contractors that received the contracts. The day after the queries were sent, the intermediary reached out to the paper, claiming the HDC official was willing to discuss the contract issue openly, and arranged Thursday’s meeting.

    Following the publication of the report on Sunday, Housing Minister David Lee moved quickly to distance himself from the entire affair. When contacted by the outlet for official comment, Lee stated he had no prior knowledge of any bribe attempt or the underlying allegations of collusion. He emphasized that as the cabinet minister overseeing the housing portfolio, he does not interfere in the daily operations of the HDC or any other state agency under his jurisdiction, nor does he involvement in any public procurement processes managed by those entities.

    In response to the newspaper’s investigation, legal action has already been threatened by one of the two contractors. Last Thursday afternoon, Denelle S Singh, an attorney based in Chaguanas, submitted a pre-action protocol letter to the Sunday Express on behalf of the contractor and his firm. The letter denies all collusion allegations and warns that the contractor will file a lawsuit if the outlet publishes his client’s name in connection with the story.

    The second contractor, who secured a multi-million-dollar contract under the program and spoke briefly with Bassant earlier that week, took a different approach. In a detailed set of responses sent via WhatsApp late Friday evening, the contractor said his company is unable to release any information related to confidential client relationships, commercial agreements, or project-specific details unless compelled by law or given formal permission by all relevant involved parties.

  • Young slams Govt over Pt Lisas plant shutdowns

    Young slams Govt over Pt Lisas plant shutdowns

    A sharp political backlash has hit the ruling administration of Trinidad and Tobago over its stewardship of the country’s critical energy industry, with former energy minister Stuart Young leveling sweeping accusations of incompetence, policy missteps and regulatory negligence that he warns threaten thousands of jobs, critical foreign exchange revenue and long-term investor confidence. Young made the allegations public in a detailed Facebook post published over the weekend, targeting both Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissesar and current Energy Minister Dr Roodal Moonilal for a series of missteps that have already disrupted operations at the country’s key Point Lisas Industrial Estate, where major global petrochemical players operate.

    At the core of Young’s criticism is the government’s revised natural gas allocation policy, which he argues has diverted critical gas supplies away from established ammonia and methanol producers at Point Lisas to Atlantic LNG, a move driven purely by the short-term appeal of elevated global LNG prices. Young calls this decision a short-sighted and fundamentally flawed policy that has already forced operational shutdowns at a nitrogen plant run by Nutrien, one of the world’s largest fertiliser manufacturers, and prompted major methanol producer Methanex to issue explicit warnings that it could be forced to shutter its operations next if the current policy framework remains in place.

    Young emphasized that the current administration’s mismanagement unfolded in less than a year in office, tying the industrial disruptions directly to what he describes as the government’s fundamental ignorance of how the energy sector operates, as well as eroded business confidence among international investors that have long anchored Trinidad and Tobago’s industrial energy economy. “In less than a year Kamla Persad-Bissesar’s incompetence and mismanagement of the energy sector has led to the shut-down of the plants of one of the largest global fertiliser companies Nutrien, at Pt Lisas, and now one of the largest global methanol producers Methanex is signalling that they may follow suit,” Young wrote in his post.

    Beyond the gas allocation controversy, Young also took aim at Moonilal over the delayed response to an offshore oil spill in the Gulf of Paria first detected on May 1. He accused the minister of failing to detect and disclose the spill for nine days, noting that the incident was only publicly confirmed by the Trinidad and Tobago government after Venezuelan authorities exposed the spill. “It is clear that Moonilal has no say—in fact, sadly, as Minister of Energy he did not even know the oil assets under his stewardship were responsible for an oil spill on May 1 and it took the Venezuelans exposing the spill for the government to tell us today, May 10 (9 days later), that there was an offshore oil spill. Total incompetence or dishonesty,” Young said.

    Young also raised serious legal questions about the leadership of the National Gas Company (NGC), the state-owned entity responsible for managing the country’s gas supplies, arguing that the board and senior management will face fiduciary legal scrutiny over the controversial policy shifts that have triggered the industrial shutdowns. “Furthermore, the board at NGC has serious legal questions to answer as in a few short months under their tenure major petroleum chemical companies at Pt Lisas have shut down and are indicating further shut downs which are due to the change in gas allocation policies at NGC. These decisions will be subject to legal fiduciary scrutiny of the board and management at NGC,” he added.

    Closing his statement, Young left a provocative question for both the administration and the public of Trinidad and Tobago, challenging the government’s record on one of the country’s most economically vital sectors: “So once again Trinidad and Tobago, who exactly is winning?” Young warned that if the current policy course is not reversed, the full consequences will be felt across the national economy: permanent job losses at Point Lisas, permanent reductions in critical foreign exchange earnings, collapse of local service companies that support the petrochemical sector, and a lasting drought of foreign direct investment in the country’s energy industry.