11 March

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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...

19 February

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Need for own environmental agency – Tobago Chamber head: Spill exposes risks to island’s economy

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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...

28 January

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Probate backlog causing distress

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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...

28 January

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Process to source new vessel ongoing : Sinanan over replacing ‘Cabo Star’

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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...

18 January

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Jittery THA looking to reintroduce COVID protocols

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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...

14 January

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Whistleblowing in business : Vital check against excesses or corruption

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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...

14 January

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Work not allowed on US tourist visas

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Question: I am a performer and I have received offers to perform in the United States after Carnival. I already have a ten-year tourist visa; can I use this to perform in the United States? Answer: No, the “B1/B2” tourist visa does not allow the traveller to work while in the United States. If you want to work or perform in the US temporarily, you will need a specific visa based on the type of work you will be doing. It is essential that you have the appropriate visa for the activities that you will engage in while in the United States. Misuse of a...

08 January

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Widow of Massy worker seeks NiQuan accident report

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ATTORNEYS for the widow of Massy Energy Engineered Solutions Ltd pipefitter Allan Lane Ramkissoon have written to the Prime Minister asking for a copy of the report on the accident which claimed his life on June 15, 2023. On January 4, attorney Keshavi Khoorban, of the firm Martin George and Associates, wrote to Dr Rowley asking for the report.“We write to call upon your good self as the head of Cabinet of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago to provide us with a copy of the report from the investigation into the accident which occurred on June 15, 2023 at NiQuan’s...

05 January

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Widow of worker killed at NiQuan plant wants accident report

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The widow of Allanlane Ramkissoon, the Massy Energy Engineered Solutions Limited (MEES) employee who died in an accident at the NiQuan plant last year, has asked Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley for a copy of the investigation report. A letter sent by Sarah Ramkissoon’s attorney, Martin George, gives Rowley seven days to provide a copy of the report. In the letter, George said, “We write to call upon your good self as the Head of Cabinet of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago to provide us with a copy of the Report from the investigation into the accident which occurred on 15th...

31 December

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Opposition MPs, business heads want firmer action on crime

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in Newspaper Articles, Tobago Business Chamber

While the Prime Minister assured resources were being allocated to the national security forces to combat crime and called on citizens to speak up against criminals, stakeholders are not satisfied this is enough to get a grip on the scourge. Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley's statement on Saturday morning after a wave of violent crime in the last week of the year, including a brazen shooting on Churchill Roosevelt Highway, where four people were killed, including an innocent woman, and the kidnapping of an El Socorro woman by fake cops. For political opponents, like opposition national security shadow minister Dr Roodal Moonilal,...