06
May
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Newspaper Articles
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George: THA not liable in shark attack
Attorney-at-law Martin George said the shark attack suffered by British tourist Peter Smith was an isolated event and does not open up the Tobago House of Assembly (THA) to liability. George, the chairman of the Tobago Business Chamber, said the High Court had previously found the THA liable for injuries suffered by Yanik Quesnel and Spanish national Ana Carolina Barry-Laso, who suffered cuts and broken bones from a passing pirogue’s propeller blades at Pigeon Point, Tobago, in 2007. Quesnel had to use a wheelchair following the mishap, while Barry-Laso walked with a limp. In her ruling, Justice Judith Jones found that the...
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George: Easier to appoint a President than Police Commissioner
Attorney and former Police Service Commission member Martin George, says the Opposition has valid concerns about the selection process of the acting commissioner of police and deputy police commissioners. On Friday, the Opposition rejected the Constitution (Amendment) Bill, which sought to allow the Police Service Commission (PolSC) to appoint acting commissioners without the approval of the House of Representatives. George, who spoke on the issue during an interview on CNC3’s The Morning Brew yesterday, said concerns by the Opposition that someone who is not on the merit list could be appointed are justified. “If it is you are talking specifically about pulling persons from the merit list, that...
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Tobago Business Chamber: ‘Why didn’t CoP meet with us on her visit?’
THE TOBAGO Business Chamber has questioned why it was not included in a meeting with Police Commissioner Erla Harewood-Christopher during her visit to the island on March 13. Harewood-Christopher met in a closed-door discussion with members of the Tobago Chamber of Industry and Commerce at its headquarters, Ansa McAl Building, Milford Road, Scarborough. She did so as a follow-up to a request from the chamber, which, over the past few months, has been calling for a meeting with her to discuss the crime situation on the island. Tobago has already recorded six murders for 2024. But the Tobago Business Chamber, chaired by attorney...
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THA scraps Jazz Festival – Tourism stakeholders weigh potential revenue loss
BY: ELIZABETH GONZALES The highly anticipated annual Tobago Jazz Experience will not be making a return in 2024, as the Tobago House of Assembly has decided to scrap it due to its “unsustainability”. However, the THA says it will support any jazz-related activities planned for April 2024. The announcement was made yesterday by the Tobago Festivals Commission Limited, a year after Chief Secretary Farley Augustine raised concerns over the event’s future. At that time, Augustine revealed the THA executive’s intention to consider a new approach, wherein private promoters would take on a larger role and become major investors in hosting the festival. In its first...
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Need for own environmental agency – Tobago Chamber head: Spill exposes risks to island’s economy
The oil spill disaster that occurred off the Canoe Bay coast of Tobago has exposed the island’s fragility and vulnerability. This according to head of the Tobago Business Chamber Martin George. Speaking with the Sunday Express yesterday, he called for Tobago to have its own environmental management agency. George said: “What this exposes is Tobago’s fragility and vulnerability as a small island within the global complex, and you look at it and you recognise that there is clearly a need for Tobago to have its own environmental management agency. “This is not to take anything away from the current (Environmental Management Authority) which manages...
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Probate backlog causing distress
People waiting for the distribution of assets–to inherit the properties, money or investments of deceased loved ones–face agonising hold-ups as there is an approximate delay of six years in processing probate matters at the Judiciary of T&T. Information obtained from the Judiciary by Guardian Media in a Freedom of Information request revealed that as of October 2023, there were 14,915 pending probate matters. Between August 1, 2020, to July 31, 2023, 7,690 probate matters were completed. With 7,690 probate matters completed in the 1,095 days between August 1, 2020, and July 31, 2023, it works out to around seven probate matters being...
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Process to source new vessel ongoing : Sinanan over replacing ‘Cabo Star’
MINISTER of Works and Transport Rohan Sinanan says the process to source a vessel to replace the Cabo Star is still ongoing. This follows concerns raised about the progress of commissioning of a cargo vessel by Martin George, president of the Tobago Business Chamber, during a telephone interview with the Express yesterday. “The minister promised when last we spoke to him (last year), he is going to commission the construction of a new cargo vessel. We have not heard anything further. We would like to use the forum to call upon him to give us the details of when that vessel is...
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Jittery THA looking to reintroduce COVID protocols
With a sharp rise in the number of people presenting classic symptoms, Tobago's administrators are very jittery over the threat of a resurgence of the COVID-19 virus. So much so that the Division of Education, Research and Technology (DERTech) has put principals of all schools on the island on notice to prepare to return to certain protocols which were in place during and just after the pandemic. But THA Chief Secretary Farley Augustine isn't leaving the precautions there. He confirmed on Wednesday that the assembly will move to reintroduce covid19 protocols at all of its offices, sub-offices and buildings across the eight divisions...
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Whistleblowing in business : Vital check against excesses or corruption
Local business leaders believe that whistleblowing continues to have its place in the corporate and business world. Leading American whistleblowing attorney Stephen M. Kohn wrote an article published on June, 2023 by Stanford University’s Stanford Social Innovation Review (SSIR) magazine which stated that whistleblowing has proven to be an effective anti-corruption tool, whose promise to deter frauds is almost unlimited. “Whether it’s busting a billionaire banker illegally stashing money overseas, or a ship captain that ordered the dumping of oil overboard, blowing the whistle is how these crimes are detected and successfully prosecuted,” he opined. The National Whistleblower Center based in the United...
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