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00:00:00Good morning, Trinidad and Tobago, the rest of the world. I'm Marlon Hopkinson. It's Tuesday,
00:00:2310th September and thank you very much for joining us. I hope that you had a very good
00:00:27night and that you're safe and sound with us this morning. We do have an interesting
00:00:31program for you as always, all right? But let's check out to see what's happening on
00:00:35the front page of the Daily Express today. Inbert Lay's special report, Auditor General
00:00:40engaging in campaign of non-cooperation. Stubborn Jaiwanti, an underwater uprooted Harrison
00:00:49tends to his banana trees after floodwater submerged his garden at Union Village Claxton
00:00:54Bay following heavy rainfall in the area yesterday and dengue deaths rise by three.
00:00:59Let me just touch a little bit on this Auditor General story. Inbert Knox, Auditor General's
00:01:03campaign of non-cooperation, special report fueling the fire. Finance Minister Colin Inbert
00:01:09has accused Auditor General Jaiwanti Ramdas of engaging in a campaign of non-cooperation
00:01:15and also no audit report as yet on $2.6 billion revenue disparity. To date, there has been
00:01:23no internal audit report on the $2.6 billion revenue discrepancy caused by the malfunction
00:01:29of the central bank's electronic check clearing system. The special report by Auditor General
00:01:35Jaiwanti Ramdas has stated. All right, let's go to the back page now. Seating shakeup.
00:01:42Five dissident MPs sit away from UNC colleagues. Changes have been made to the opposition bench
00:01:47in Parliament where the five MPs who were labeled as dissidents now all sit together.
00:01:54The most significant change is the movement of Naparima MP, Rodney Charles, who sat at
00:01:59the left-hand side of opposition leader Kamala Prasad Bissessa. He has now been moved to
00:02:03the second to last place at the front end of the bench. All right, let's take in some
00:02:09sport now. Fine adjustments, changes to be made as Soka Warriors target full points versus
00:02:16French Guyana. Trinidad and Tobago senior men's football team interim coach Derrick
00:02:21King is expected to tweak his starting lineup as well as making adjustments to their playing
00:02:26system when they face French Guyana from 7 p.m. today in their CONCACAF Nations League
00:02:32Group B, League A match at the Dwight York Stadium in Bacolet, Tobago. All right, let's
00:02:39fill that stadium in Tobago and give the boys support, eh? Yeah? Let's not be bandwagonists.
00:02:46You know how we are in Trinidad and Tobago, right? All right, so we're moving on. Trinbago
00:02:52Unice for you, yeah? So this is the address, trinbagounice at tv6tnt.com. Do we have, yeah,
00:03:03this is a beautiful, those are sour cherries from Anjali. You all know this, about this?
00:03:09These are sour cherries that you make red sour cherries with and also you make chow
00:03:14with, yeah? You have to be good to make the chow with it, eh? Because if these are not,
00:03:20if these are too sour, you could be in some trouble. They remind me of my childhood days,
00:03:25yeah? But thank you very much, Anjali, again for that beautiful picture, yeah? All right,
00:03:31so you have your coffee, your tea, you have something to eat, get that and come back.
00:03:37I do them right, I'm just a man who just pray at night. How I live it, better than them.
00:03:47How I look it, better than them. Look how I feel it, better than them.
00:03:54Family, how you look so down? Stethoscope and flu, could flip that frown. All the coughing
00:04:03That runny nose cannot last, you must come out to work and class.
00:04:06Try Setamol, cold and flu, later at night I do.
00:04:13Try Setamol, cold and flu, and get back to the better you. Available at pharmacies nationwide.
00:04:24I see you, okay, do your dance, do your thing. I see you, okay, let me see you cherry hill.
00:04:30Now take it back, let me see you rock off, rock off, shake off, shake off, let me see you rock off, rock off.
00:04:37Cherry hill, sidekick, sponge bob, sexy walk, heel toe, footwork, crazy leg, rock off.
00:04:44Let me see you kick right, now kick left, now step forward, now step back.
00:04:48LucasAid, bring the energy.
00:04:51Introducing the National Transparency System, the NTS is here to revolutionize how we tackle climate change.
00:05:00This robust platform will monitor and analyze key climate adaptation indicators,
00:05:07helping us enhance Trinidad and Tobago's climate strategies.
00:05:12From health services to farming practices, water management to research policies,
00:05:18legislative frameworks to community practice, the NTS measures it all,
00:05:24bringing clarity and efficiency to our environmental efforts.
00:05:29Tracking our greenhouse gas emissions is now made easier.
00:05:34With the NTS, we're on the path to a brighter, greener future.
00:05:39We're on the path to a brighter, greener future.
00:05:43The National Transparency System, our commitment to transparency, accountability, and sustainability in climate reporting.
00:05:54The Curape and Coastal Empowerment Ministries International of 27 McDonnell Street, Curape, Trinidad, and West Philly presents Empowerment Through the World.
00:06:09Come with us as we affect humanity with the life-transforming power of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
00:06:16We invite you to stay tuned and be blessed.
00:06:25I don't care to do right, so whether day or night, I will live my life I share.
00:06:31I'm a savage, every way I go.
00:06:35I'm a savage, live my life I share.
00:06:39I'm a savage, every way I go.
00:06:43All right, everybody, so welcome back.
00:06:45So, red band maxi-taxi operators are today accusing the Works and Transport Ministry of violating their route.
00:06:51This after the ministry has implemented an experimental scheme for green band maxi-taxis on the priority bus route.
00:06:58Well, to discuss the issue, we do have with us this morning, Brenton Knights, president of the Route 2 Maxi Taxi Drivers Association, and Vernel Carter, secretary of the association.
00:07:07Gentlemen, thank you very much for coming this morning.
00:07:09Thank you, thank you.
00:07:10Good morning, Trinidad and Tobago.
00:07:11Good morning, Almighty God, our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
00:07:15Good morning, Maryland.
00:07:16Good morning, viewers.
00:07:17Yeah.
00:07:19And commuters on the route.
00:07:21Good morning.
00:07:22What are the issues here, Mr. Knights?
00:07:24Well, we have the first topic issue here is this implementation of this experimental scheme, which got an extension.
00:07:31And the first part of it is that we have the opinion that is totally, totally unacceptable in the way that it was done.
00:07:39It just violates many fundamental regulations, policies, and guidelines that the ministry itself set out in terms of how you are supposed to be on the bus route as an aged vehicle.
00:07:51And let me say this in a conversation early o'clock.
00:07:53We are not against our comrades being on the bus route, but we are against, in a way, how it was done and how it continues to do.
00:08:01Because we know that once you have an experimental scheme running for three months, and then you get the extension, the second extension and the third extension, after that it becomes law.
00:08:10And we sat in a meeting last year, and we agreed for this to be done in a certain manner, and they have not treated with it in that manner.
00:08:19Simple.
00:08:20When you look at the experimental scheme, how it is written.
00:08:23But what is it, the experimental scheme?
00:08:26It is an experimental scheme to allow the concept that we agreed on is for the 25-seaters and them to come on to the bus route from Mount Hope and come down the bus route into Port Hespin because the thinking behind it was the traffic was posed some challenge to them in the morning and evening.
00:08:43So you give them that additional option to divert and come on the bus route and come down.
00:08:48And it was so in the past.
00:08:50It is not something necessarily new, a pie in the sky.
00:08:53It was so already in the past, and we agreed for it to return in the same manner and like that it was in the past.
00:08:59Right.
00:09:00But what's the difference now?
00:09:01The difference is a complete violation of the regulations.
00:09:04What we agreed on is that all the guidelines that apply to Red Band supposed to apply to them, meaning they're supposed to have a pass on display.
00:09:11They're supposed to get the pass, and the guys and them were willing and agreed to pay for the pass.
00:09:17That has not happened.
00:09:18A matter of fact, right now in the ministry, if you go up on the website, you will see a stipulation that in order for you to get a new pass as a aged vehicle, your seating capacity must be 18-seater and above.
00:09:30When you read the regulation here, you will see that it's open for Route 3.
00:09:35It means that they open it for all capacity, 12, 15, and everything.
00:09:39It's a total violation.
00:09:41And the minister, the minister alone, and I'm not hiding, I'm mixing words, the PS sits over this and then allow that to happen.
00:09:49Yeah.
00:09:50Mr. Carter, what are some of the challenges that you all have been experiencing because of this scheme?
00:09:56Well, the challenges, firstly, morning again, everyone, is well, the membership, right?
00:10:00They see it because, as Mr. Knight explained, the seating capacity has to be between 18 to 25 in order to get a bus with pass.
00:10:08That has been implemented a while now.
00:10:10I can't remember how long, but the 15-seaters that we have on the market, they cannot apply for a pass.
00:10:17There's a particular individual who bought a Maxi, a small 15-seater.
00:10:22It was on the boat coming into the country.
00:10:25He applied for the pass, was in line and getting the pass, and before the vehicle reached, they changed that law to 18-25-seaters alone.
00:10:32So now he was no longer able to get that pass.
00:10:35He tried all, how he kept all his documents.
00:10:37Still, they revoked that.
00:10:38Now, here you are, opening that possibility for the green ban, not just the green, the route three has determined.
00:10:45So that's all the routes.
00:10:46So as he said, so the membership now, they will question that, and not just the membership, obviously, we, the executive, because we oversee all these things.
00:10:53We're trying to make sure that these things go in line with what we have discussed.
00:10:56And as he said, this meeting was in December of last year.
00:11:00And every single thing that was discussed in that meeting, it went against it.
00:11:05Everything you're talking about, he's saying bus should pass.
00:11:07There's another thing with the amount of points that you have on your DP.
00:11:11There's a cap to that, so you must have ten points or less.
00:11:15There's a defensive driving that you must do to go.
00:11:18So they went through none of this.
00:11:20So why are we, who says apply the route, it's our route, we have to go through all these stringent measures, which we don't have a problem with.
00:11:27But our problem is now you're letting another route come in on it, just open it all free, or we'll say willingly.
00:11:33And then expect us to just sit back and, you know, let the schemes go on.
00:11:37And as he said, as the third scheme is there, that's it.
00:11:39It's going to be low now.
00:11:40So then that'll be what, a fight in the court or whatever.
00:11:42So the perception is and the impression is that the route three drivers have been given a sort of preferential treatment.
00:11:51Well, it seems so, but I like to take it a little further because we see this, not only this, but other interaction with the ministry.
00:11:59I don't want to use the strong word as attack, but we see other things happening in that ministry that the perception of the, it is alleged that the minister is the golden one.
00:12:09Because he does not have to face the electorate next year.
00:12:12So he functions above the law and outside of the law, the regulations and the guidelines that is prescribed for the same ministry that he put in place.
00:12:21So we see this as a blatant disregard for the law and the rule of order.
00:12:27And it doesn't augur well if you're asking the citizens of Toronto to be law abiding and you have rules and regulation and guidelines and you're not adhering to it.
00:12:36You could have treated this notice in a particular way that you put other measures in place and you're highlighted.
00:12:43All this notice speaks about is section 67-1, where it allows the transport commissioner on 4850 to carry out an experimental scheme in consultation with the minister.
00:12:55If you want to give them an exemption for the pursuit pass, put that inside of there.
00:12:58You want to do other things, put it, have consultation, have dialogue, do all of that.
00:13:03But you put this notice and if you look at the second experimental scheme, it was even a set up for the counterparts.
00:13:07Because you have the commenced date being the 8th of July and the police commissioner and the minister signed off on it on the 20th.
00:13:17So you're setting them up. You're setting them up.
00:13:20You're even doing due diligence, the person who prepared this legal notice, even doing due diligence to make sure that this before it come out into public consumption, that it's right.
00:13:29It probably wasn't even vetted.
00:13:31Mr. Carter, how do we resolve this?
00:13:33Well, I could say on our end, we've been trying to speak with our comrade at the Routree executive.
00:13:40We've had meetings at the AMTTT level.
00:13:43That's with Mr. Hewitt and the rest of the board members.
00:13:46Outside of that, we had a separate meeting with just us and the Routree president.
00:13:51And as Mr. Knight said, we showed him, we pointed out that signature and that time into him in an effort for him to actually see that most of these things that they're doing is wrong.
00:14:02But we are of the opinion he is aware of it and he is either in conjunction with whoever at the ministry and he's adamant that he's sticking to it.
00:14:12So our consultation, our trying to resolve it at our end, at the AMTTT level, that has failed.
00:14:19Because he has never reached out to us and given us any feedback as to positive in him understanding the laws that were broken and steps taken forward.
00:14:27As we said from the beginning, at the beginning of every meeting, we are not against the route using the PBR.
00:14:33Just don't let it infringe on our rights as well because it's totally against everything that was put in there by the same government.
00:14:40But you know, Mr. Knight, I'm sure that you would have made representation to the minister or his ministry.
00:14:46What has the response been from them?
00:14:48The response is nothing, nothing.
00:14:51And I'm saying on this occasion, this is not the first situation.
00:14:55We have a situation with the next of kin, right?
00:14:59Transferring of the past to the next of kin in the case of death, in the case of health.
00:15:02The ministry saw such a disrespect and a disregard for the association that we used to allow, they used to allow applicants putting in application for that.
00:15:13They just take up a decision a day to decide, well, they're not taking no more application.
00:15:17And they didn't even have the courtesy to say, all right, let me call or let me email the association and tell them, hey, we have a shift in policy or whatever the case may be.
00:15:25And we see this.
00:15:26I just read my little script and I see this.
00:15:28It draws back my memory in the days of old with Pharaoh.
00:15:31Are you hard in the heart of Pharaoh?
00:15:33And possibly in them times, Pharaoh was male.
00:15:36But possibly in this time, dispensation had to look at probably it could either be male or female in this situation.
00:15:42Because if we give you some of the stories that happen with our members, where they take away the past, they pull the rug from under them in such a humane manner, it will bring tears to your eyes.
00:15:54You have a member who is experiencing grief.
00:15:57They come into the PBR section and say, hey, I would like to get the past transferred because the past is incapacitated right now.
00:16:04He's sick.
00:16:05They say, okay, all right.
00:16:06During that process, the person ends up dying.
00:16:08They come back.
00:16:09They say, hey, look, it is no longer a situation where the person is incapacitated.
00:16:12The person has died.
00:16:14Okay, go and get your will prebated and whatever.
00:16:17They went and they do that.
00:16:18They tell them, come back in with all the documents inclusive of the past.
00:16:21They come back in by the ministry inclusive of all the past and all the documents.
00:16:27You know what they did?
00:16:29They take all the documents inclusive of the past, keep the past, and hand them back the documents and tell them, okay, that person there, that is the end of it.
00:16:37So, if these matters are not resolved, what's the next step?
00:16:41Where are we heading?
00:16:42We will approach.
00:16:43We will respond in the response that we feel is appropriate with this situation here.
00:16:50And the meal that is being dealt to our members is the same meal that is waiting for us later on because we need to.
00:16:57We are maxi operators.
00:16:59We are drivers.
00:17:00We own maxis.
00:17:01So, the meal that is additional to our members here that is not palatable, we see that that meal is being prepared for us down the road, and we're not going to stick with it.
00:17:09And the members of them are frustrated, and they're reaching a boiling point where when you're in a relationship, sometimes you just have to reflect.
00:17:17Marlon, if I can interject as well.
00:17:19As Mr. Knight said, it's not just today they started, you know.
00:17:23We, especially as Mr. Knight came on board as president and prior to that, we've been trying to reach out to the government at all different angles, not just e-mails.
00:17:31We've also went through the Freedom of Information Act where we've been questioning the government and the different titles and positions and what is expected from different persons at that level, especially with this Mexican.
00:17:44We've been sending out, asking information as to, okay, how long it has been going on, when it has stopped, what made it.
00:17:50Nothing, nothing, nothing.
00:17:52We've been getting extensions to their reply.
00:17:54So, every 30 days after it's finished, they would send an extension.
00:17:57Right now, it's been going on so long, I can't remember if we got an extension yet or if the date has passed and they haven't answered.
00:18:03But it's not just yesterday and we decided to do it today.
00:18:06This has been going on since Mr. Phillip was alive.
00:18:08That Mexican, I don't know, I'm sad to see.
00:18:11In the funeral, that was even brought up in the funeral.
00:18:14And as Mr. Knight would say, it's a disrespect that the same person at that funeral in the eulogy would mention something about that Mexican and say that, you know, they would make sure that it goes down that road.
00:18:23And sad to say, that's made a complete u-turn.
00:18:26But you know, Mr. Knight, there has to be, I mean, as you all are saying, this has been going on for a while now.
00:18:34So, there has to be a cut-off point where your association says, look, this has to be resolved.
00:18:40But that's the point we have right now.
00:18:42And the members are 100% behind us in whatever decision that we make.
00:18:47And we will just be just coming out here because of our, let me say, responsible organization.
00:18:52We feel that it's our responsibility to bring it and sensitize the public because they are our treasure and our prized possession in terms of we supply service for them every day.
00:19:05And we want them to understand our plight and our circumstances so that when we make decisions and we respond in a certain manner, people will not just feel that the maxi-taxi fraternity or the association is just lashing out just because it's an ongoing issue.
00:19:18And I'm seeing my opinion and the opinion outside there that the minister functioned in such a way that he's the golden one.
00:19:26He functions that way.
00:19:28That is what is alleged.
00:19:29It is alleged that he functions that he's the golden one.
00:19:31He functions in a certain manner since December to know we haven't had a meeting with that ministry.
00:19:37That is nine months on a route that is so vital to transportation in this country.
00:19:43Come on.
00:19:44We have to be real.
00:19:45So, is it that you want an almost immediate meeting with the minister and officials at the ministry?
00:19:51Two weeks ago, we wrote another letter to the P.S. asking for an urgent meeting.
00:19:57And we didn't just ask for a meeting.
00:19:58We asked certain members to be at that meeting because we know the items we want to discuss fall in their area, fall under their purview.
00:20:04So, it's not just once.
00:20:06As he said, since December.
00:20:08And when we saw this flop in February or March, we've been asking at our level, at the EMTT level, we've reached out to Mr. Hewitt when he goes to advisory meeting.
00:20:18But to date, we haven't gotten that meeting, that response, personally.
00:20:22So, is it that these letters are being ignored?
00:20:24Or do you receive a response?
00:20:26We don't get a response.
00:20:28We will assume it's being ignored because the email goes out.
00:20:31The only thing I haven't started doing is hand-delivering it and carrying a copy to get an official stamp saying it was received.
00:20:37But we haven't gotten any response via email.
00:20:39Are we oppressing issues?
00:20:42As we talk, we speak here.
00:20:43Since February, we're asking for some signage and some lines in Arima to facilitate the demarcation on the road to identify the priority bus route line and the main road line.
00:20:53Nothing.
00:20:54Again, we will sound like Mr. Knight is angry.
00:20:57He personalizes things with the minister.
00:21:00But it seems like the minister doesn't have the testicular fortitude to implement certain things.
00:21:05Over here, we're asking for the speed limit to go up from 65 to 80.
00:21:10Right?
00:21:11We're asking for that.
00:21:12More or less, everybody has the understanding that, yes, driving too fast is dangerous and risky.
00:21:18But also, there's enough data to support that driving too slow is also hazardous and dangerous.
00:21:24I challenge any member of the public to drive from Port of Spain to Point 14 where the road is completely open at 65.
00:21:31Tell me how that driving experience will be for you.
00:21:33What hazard you will encounter going down that road at 65 miles per hour?
00:21:37And to date, nothing.
00:21:39What has been happening?
00:21:40Because you're also speaking about other issues.
00:21:44What has been happening on the priority bus route re-security?
00:21:49Because I know that in the past that maxi-taxis have been robbed.
00:21:55The passengers have been robbed.
00:21:57What is happening re-security?
00:22:00Well, Marlon, only recently, I would say two weeks ago, we've had some glimmer of light that the security measures will start to be implemented.
00:22:10But we believe that light only came about because we kind of started to squeeze.
00:22:14We went above, that person said.
00:22:16And when it reached that level, the person realized, hey, you know, like, we now get, as they would say, you know, that energy that we have to put out there.
00:22:26But in keeping their shame, I would want to believe that is why they decided to now come on board.
00:22:31But that on board, that they are on board, is nothing compared to what we really need out there.
00:22:36We welcome and we appreciate the efforts, but it's nothing compared.
00:22:40It's still just as bad as you knew it, as you could probably investigate and see.
00:22:45It's still that bad.
00:22:46Yeah.
00:22:47Mr. Nice, we just have about a minute again.
00:22:49Yeah, well, the security is terrible.
00:22:50And the security in the country in general is poor.
00:22:53And the bus route is no different.
00:22:55We are 24-hour service, right?
00:22:57And the maxi-taxi drivers and the commuters are at risk, are seriously at risk on the bus route because they're supposed to.
00:23:04We keep harping on why we haven't seen much more stop and search.
00:23:08Yes, we've seen little roadblocks to move illegal use at the priority bus route.
00:23:13What about stopping the maxi-taxi and asking if everybody's okay and walking through the corridors of the maxi-taxi to ensure that everybody's all right?
00:23:21What about a police boarding a maxi in plainclothes and taking a ride, and at a point in time, just ready to come out and say,
00:23:28hey, stop this maxi at so-and-so junction and let me do a proper little search.
00:23:31That will give a little relief to the commuters.
00:23:34And you could get your PR out of it, you know.
00:23:36You could get your PR, your public relations stunt out of it.
00:23:38It's not a problem.
00:23:39But what you will do, you will ensure the citizens a sense of comfort when they commute in the late wee hours of the morning.
00:23:46And that is somebody's daughter, that is somebody's mother, that is somebody's child, that is somebody's husband.
00:23:51Final comments.
00:23:53Well, my comment is that we, our constitution, tells us that we're supposed to have a good relation with all stakeholders and the powers that be.
00:24:01We have been trying that for years.
00:24:03And the constitution dictates that.
00:24:05So I say what I am saying here, it doesn't contribute to our constitution in that manner.
00:24:09But we reach a point where what we have been dealt with is totally unacceptable.
00:24:14And we're going to respond in a light manner that is required for this situation and what we see portraying upon us and our members.
00:24:23As Mr. Knight said, it's the same thing.
00:24:26And we would like to let the commuters know that whatever we do, obviously we're doing it with our best interests and theirs as well.
00:24:31So there's nothing targeted for them.
00:24:33If you see us who are sitting in a certain direction or whatever, just, you know, either bear with us, respond to us accordingly.
00:24:37You know, you can ask questions.
00:24:39We have the office there.
00:24:40We have our phone lines.
00:24:41We have the e-mail address as well.
00:24:42And we can report with them and get them informed as well.
00:24:45Because as you said, we're not just going about this now.
00:24:47And this has been going on for years, years now.
00:24:49Presidents have died to see a little bit of what we have accomplished in, what, three, four months.
00:24:53And still fighting for over 25 years.
00:24:56Yeah.
00:24:57I think you are saying some things that you're not saying.
00:25:00But I get the impression that you all are considering your options.
00:25:04And it is not far-fetched because of my experience in the past with the association and Maxi Taxi Drivers and so on.
00:25:12But sometimes when the associations speak about its options, they're usually speaking about protest, eh?
00:25:20Well, all the options are on the table.
00:25:22And the ministry, I'll be honest, they know where I stand with certain things.
00:25:26And they know where the membership stands with certain things.
00:25:28And we're not going to shy away from our responsibility whether it's concerned.
00:25:32We're not going to do it.
00:25:33Because, again, the perception is that this minister, because he does not have to face the electorate next year, he functions in a certain manner.
00:25:41That is his prerogative.
00:25:42That is what is alleged.
00:25:44That is his prerogative.
00:25:45We as an association have our members to represent.
00:25:47Are we going to represent them?
00:25:49Gentlemen, it was a pleasure, as always, speaking with you all.
00:25:52Thank you very much for coming.
00:25:53Thank you for having us.
00:25:54Of course.
00:25:55All right, everybody.
00:25:56We are going to a very quick break.
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00:26:04Anjali, thank you.
00:26:05Anjali is working overtime.
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00:29:09Welcome back, everyone.
00:29:11So government believes there is still much confusion
00:29:14over the Auditor General's 2023 report,
00:29:17which claims missing funds to the tune of $2.6 billion.
00:29:21Speaking in the Parliament yesterday,
00:29:23Finance Minister Colin Byrd also said
00:29:25the special report of the Auditor General
00:29:27on the public accounts for the financial year 2023
00:29:30only adds fuel to the fire
00:29:33and creates more unnecessary public confusion
00:29:36and does not satisfactorily address the core issue
00:29:40that arose with the Auditor General's original report
00:29:43on the 2023 accounts.
00:29:46Well, to help us clear up all this confusion this morning
00:29:50is former Minister in the Finance Ministry, Mariano Brown.
00:29:53Mr. Brown, good morning.
00:29:55I know I've put a lot of responsibility
00:29:57on your shoulders this morning, Mr. Brown.
00:29:59Well, thank you very much for the opportunity.
00:30:03Of course.
00:30:04So I don't know if you would have seen
00:30:07the Express newspaper this morning,
00:30:10Stubborn Diversity.
00:30:11Yes.
00:30:12Yeah, Inbert Lee's special report,
00:30:14Auditor General engaging in campaign of non-cooperation.
00:30:17How do you see all of this, Mr. Brown?
00:30:22Well, the difficulty with this is once we reach this stage,
00:30:27it's difficult to turn back,
00:30:30and it requires, I shall call heads,
00:30:34to deal with one another,
00:30:36and I think Mr. Inbert is playing in the court of public opinion.
00:30:41He cannot make the Auditor General change her report,
00:30:46but he can try to make her look silly,
00:30:49which I think is what he's attempting to do.
00:30:52Now, there is clearly an issue,
00:30:56and the issue is it's difficult to reconcile.
00:31:01The Ministry of Finance thinks they have it fixed,
00:31:03and the Auditor General is saying,
00:31:04no, you have not,
00:31:06and the problem clearly arises at the central bank,
00:31:10which is what is known as the clearinghouse
00:31:13for all payments for the banking system,
00:31:16and it seems to have arisen with a piece of software
00:31:19which was implemented.
00:31:20Now, the mere fact that it took eight months
00:31:24for them to pick up an M
00:31:26says that everything is not right.
00:31:30The numbers were sent to the Auditor General
00:31:32six months later.
00:31:33By that stage,
00:31:34even if it was implemented in the beginning of 2023,
00:31:38one would presume that by September 2023,
00:31:41it was running well,
00:31:42and you had six months to pick those things up,
00:31:44but it was picked up inadvertently,
00:31:46not even by the Treasury,
00:31:48but by the Budget Office,
00:31:50the Budget Office of the Ministry of Finance,
00:31:52who does not handle those day-to-day arrangements,
00:31:54and they're looking at the overall reconciliation.
00:31:58The budget for 2025
00:32:01actually begins in March of 2024,
00:32:05so that somewhere they were looking back at the numbers,
00:32:07and it picked up this discrepancy.
00:32:09That's how the thing came to light,
00:32:11and the Auditor General at that stage,
00:32:13when she went to look at it,
00:32:14and said they had reconciled the numbers,
00:32:16it clearly was a problem.
00:32:18Now, that problem has not clearly been solved
00:32:21or resolved to resolution,
00:32:23and there's nothing the Minister of Finance can do
00:32:27to make a change to her position
00:32:30if she is not comfortable with the numbers.
00:32:33The Constitution is very clear.
00:32:35The Auditor General's role is to express an opinion,
00:32:40and that means she must do the necessary work
00:32:42to bring her to that conclusion,
00:32:44and that means on the other side,
00:32:46you must do the necessary reconciliations
00:32:49and satisfy me that everything is clear,
00:32:52and quite frankly, that has not been done.
00:32:55Otherwise, the Auditor General could not be sticking out
00:32:57like a sore thumb along those lines.
00:32:59But, Mr. Brown, so then what does the...
00:33:05I don't know if it is to even speak about
00:33:09what can the government do,
00:33:11but is it that the central bank can intervene
00:33:14and try to clear this up?
00:33:17Who is to clear this up?
00:33:18The erratic person is inside the central bank,
00:33:20so there's an issue being raised
00:33:23with the adequacy of the controls
00:33:26which were executed,
00:33:28which are executed by the central bank.
00:33:30That's where the problem lies.
00:33:32Now, the Auditor General has to be able to see
00:33:35X, Y, and Z, what is taking place and so on.
00:33:37She's not the auditor of the central bank,
00:33:39but there is an important process
00:33:42which is controlled by the central bank
00:33:44and which affects the accounts of Trinidad and Tobago.
00:33:47So the issue isn't central bank independence.
00:33:50The issue is how well central bank did its job
00:33:54in those particular circumstances.
00:33:56If the Auditor General is not satisfied
00:33:59and hasn't seen the numbers,
00:34:01then there's very little that one can do about that.
00:34:04So then the big question is,
00:34:07how do you resolve this matter?
00:34:11But it may not be resolvable at this stage,
00:34:15and that's the difficulty.
00:34:18One has to clearly understand what took place,
00:34:22where the errors are,
00:34:24and how the reconciliations have been done.
00:34:26These things are not tidy.
00:34:28We'd like to think that all accounting matters are tidy.
00:34:31In some instances, they are not
00:34:33because we've not been able to do
00:34:35the necessary reconciliations.
00:34:37The minister thinks that they have done,
00:34:39and the Treasury Department clearly seems to think
00:34:41they have done all the necessary reconciliations,
00:34:44which show and demonstrate what took place.
00:34:47And the Auditor General is being punctilious.
00:34:50And if she's not satisfied, she's not satisfied.
00:34:55Now, the unfortunate issue is other issues have been true.
00:35:00Fuel has been added to the fire,
00:35:02and I don't think it is only one person to blame.
00:35:05Clearly, there are other issues here,
00:35:08and they have to be sorted out.
00:35:10I don't think we have the full story.
00:35:13But what are the...
00:35:15All right, so if this matter is not resolved, Mr. Brown,
00:35:19what will the impact be?
00:35:23Well, the impact can't be good,
00:35:26but every year, the Auditor General produces reports
00:35:30which go to Parliament,
00:35:32which indicate that there are serious deficiencies,
00:35:35and we never know
00:35:37whether those deficiencies have been corrected.
00:35:40We never know whether this year's report
00:35:43is better than last year's report,
00:35:45and if all of the difficulties have been resolved,
00:35:48they're only of what one would call a minor nature.
00:35:51All right, so clearly there's need to tidy up all around,
00:35:57all right, all around,
00:35:59and to deal with the issues in a more...
00:36:02How shall we call it?
00:36:04For example, in the private sector,
00:36:06if a chief accountant were to get a bad report one year
00:36:12and he got a bad report the second year,
00:36:14he certainly wouldn't mean he dropped the second year far less
00:36:17than he did, all right?
00:36:19So there are issues along these lines
00:36:21which are discipline and organization issues
00:36:24which have to be addressed.
00:36:26Now, this is a critical matter, all right,
00:36:29a critical matter in terms of how no banks
00:36:33reconcile things by hand anymore.
00:36:36Reconciliations are done automatically,
00:36:39but this is clearly a problem with the implementation of the software
00:36:42that did A, B, and C,
00:36:44and those things have to be cleared up very cleanly.
00:36:48Now, I don't think that has been done.
00:36:51That is what the Auditor General is saying.
00:36:53You have not satisfied me that this has been done.
00:36:57What do you want me to do?
00:36:58You want me to give you a good report even though you haven't done it?
00:37:01Well, I'm not doing it.
00:37:03It's as simple as that.
00:37:04So what you're saying the Auditor General is not cooperating.
00:37:06What cooperation do you want?
00:37:08You want to say, well, look, I'll turn a blind eye.
00:37:11This has happened.
00:37:12I'll give you a pass even if you haven't passed.
00:37:15What do you do in these circumstances?
00:37:18So you have to look at it from both sides of the fence.
00:37:21The Auditor General has a role to perform,
00:37:23and she has to be met,
00:37:25and you have to give her the kind of detail that is required to say that all is well.
00:37:29If she's not comfortable, and she's not comfortable in numbers,
00:37:32then there's nothing you can do about that.
00:37:35And the Prime Minister of Finance has the perfect opportunity to do what he's doing.
00:37:42He has a bully pulpit.
00:37:44The Auditor General does not have one.
00:37:46He can stand up and say anything he wants in Parliament.
00:37:48She can't.
00:37:49In fact, that is what has caused him to pass.
00:37:51But I'm just wondering, as the citizenry looks on, Mr. Brown,
00:37:58and I think that sometimes it gives the impression that people are playing with this issue,
00:38:04all of the stakeholders involved,
00:38:07that, again, to the citizenry,
00:38:10maybe they feel that there needs to be cooler heads involved in this matter
00:38:17and greater maturity for serious-minded people in Trinidad and Tobago who are looking at this,
00:38:23because I suspect they are saying, well, this is going on?
00:38:26This is still going on?
00:38:28Well, I think that the Minister of Finance expected that the Auditor General would say that we've reexamined it
00:38:38and everything is all right.
00:38:39That's what he wants.
00:38:40That's the conclusion that he wants.
00:38:43The Auditor General's role under the Constitution is clear.
00:38:47She is meant to express an opinion.
00:38:51If you haven't done the necessary reconciliation, all she has to say,
00:38:55but the only thing that she could possibly say in these circumstances,
00:38:58is that the error has occurred, some of the reconciliations have happened,
00:39:02and the problem has been dealt with.
00:39:05Now, the point is that as at the 30th of September, was there a problem?
00:39:14The answer is yes.
00:39:15Has the problem been satisfactorily resolved to say that everything was discovered
00:39:20and it was put in its right place?
00:39:22And that is the second question.
00:39:24And the answer to that seems to be no.
00:39:27Now, why not, is the most important question.
00:39:31Where does the problem come from?
00:39:33And what has been done to deal with it?
00:39:35That's not what the Minister is talking about.
00:39:37The Minister is pointing a finger at the Auditor General and saying,
00:39:40the Auditor General is not cooperating.
00:39:42The Auditor General is adding fuel to the fire, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera.
00:39:46Her role is very clear.
00:39:48Was this fixed?
00:39:50The two answers, yes or no.
00:39:54And she is saying no.
00:39:57In those circumstances, what has to happen is the Minister has to say,
00:40:01what remedial measures have been taking place?
00:40:03What has been done?
00:40:05Where has it been going?
00:40:06And that this problem will not occur again in the future.
00:40:10He is saying that the Auditor General is a problem.
00:40:13She is not doing X, Y, Z.
00:40:15She is adding fuel to the fire.
00:40:17The reality is something happened that didn't work out.
00:40:22There is a systemic issue.
00:40:24Who is addressing the systemic issue?
00:40:27So what do we do, Mr. Brown?
00:40:29We like committees in Trinidad and Tobago.
00:40:33A committee with former central bank governors and Auditor Generals.
00:40:39What do we do?
00:40:41A committee cannot solve this.
00:40:43The only thing that can solve this is the disinfectant of sunlight.
00:40:48Now, we've heard that this is a problem.
00:40:51We don't know what has caused it, except to say that there was a reconciliation.
00:40:55We don't know how this has been cured.
00:40:58And that's what I think is the most important part of this exercise.
00:41:02Cure.
00:41:04How is this being cured?
00:41:07If there is a disagreement with regard to a number of a particular date,
00:41:10there is a disagreement with regard to a number of a particular date.
00:41:14Now, is this going to be brought forward?
00:41:16Are we going to have the problem again in the current year?
00:41:18By the way, September the 3rd is only how many days away?
00:41:23So we're going to run into it.
00:41:25An audit is going to be due in the next six months.
00:41:28We're going to be, how have we reconciled this?
00:41:32How have we dealt with the issue?
00:41:34This is not about a special report.
00:41:36What the minister wants is a special report to say everything is hunky-dory and nothing has gone wrong.
00:41:41That's not what the Auditor General is saying.
00:41:44If the Auditor General is being adamant at this point,
00:41:48either one, she could be a stickler for detail,
00:41:52in which point the answer is, is she right or is she wrong?
00:41:57And the answer would appear to be,
00:41:59she must have evidence for her to stand out and to stand on this particular matter.
00:42:03That's it.
00:42:05And the minister has to address that.
00:42:07He cannot basically just simply rubbish her in Parliament and figure the problem will go away.
00:42:11Look, the problem is the Auditor General.
00:42:13Everything else is all right.
00:42:14Just forget about that Auditor General.
00:42:15Which is what he's attempting to do.
00:42:17And unfortunately, that won't work.
00:42:21Yeah.
00:42:22So, I guess the situation is at this time,
00:42:26because you know there are going to be people who would be saying,
00:42:29well, the Auditor General has acted inappropriately.
00:42:34Yeah.
00:42:35And I think, right?
00:42:37And there are going to be people that are going to say,
00:42:40well, government has not satisfied what the Auditor General has been calling for.
00:42:46Yeah.
00:42:48The Auditor General has a constitutional role.
00:42:50Yeah.
00:42:51Constitutional roles boils down to a very straightforward thing.
00:42:54Her job is to express an opinion.
00:42:58Whether you like the opinion, you disagree with the opinion, whatever.
00:43:01This is my opinion.
00:43:03Therefore, you must do what is required.
00:43:05Have you solved the problem?
00:43:07Now, the Minister is not addressing that issue.
00:43:10All right?
00:43:11He is talking about, again, he's talking about how difficult she is,
00:43:15and this is happening, and so on, and so on, and so forth.
00:43:17Well, let's assume that she is difficult.
00:43:19All right?
00:43:20That's a fact.
00:43:21Let's assume that.
00:43:22All right?
00:43:23But there is a problem.
00:43:25He isn't saying that there is no problem.
00:43:27He is saying that he thinks that the problem has been beaten.
00:43:29And the Auditor General is saying, no, it hasn't.
00:43:33All right?
00:43:34And again, and I make the point, right?
00:43:37This is a systems issue.
00:43:39Yes.
00:43:40So, we've had enough time to address it and to make certain everything has happened.
00:43:44If there are still outstandings at today's date, the Minister isn't saying there's no outstandings, you know.
00:43:50He's saying that the issue has reconciled and we know what happened.
00:43:53That's not what she's saying.
00:43:55She's saying it's not been properly accounted for.
00:43:57The language is technically very different.
00:44:00All right?
00:44:01And I make the point, here we are at the end of, almost at the end of financial year 2024.
00:44:07Yes.
00:44:08Another audit is due.
00:44:10Eight months down the road, nine months down the road from now, are we going to be in the same position?
00:44:16Are systemic issues being addressed?
00:44:19Now, that's what we need to hear from the Minister.
00:44:21And the Minister needs to say exactly what has happened to have cured this.
00:44:25Yeah.
00:44:26And I believe, Mr. Brown, that if what you're suggesting is not done, well then, as it relates to future reports, there is going to be a cloud of uncertainty over that.
00:44:40Precisely.
00:44:41Precisely.
00:44:42That, to me, is irrelevant.
00:44:44All right?
00:44:45So, I don't mind them having some things.
00:44:47Things go wrong.
00:44:48Things happen.
00:44:49All right?
00:44:50You can have situations and sometimes when you make changes, you can have an unholy mess.
00:44:55So, for example, this is not the first time that an organization or state enterprise has been put in difficulties along these lines.
00:45:02So, take, for example, the NHA, which moved over into HTC.
00:45:08All right?
00:45:09It moved over with a lot of accounting problems.
00:45:10Those accounting problems were never really solved.
00:45:12All right?
00:45:13They just basically tucked somewhere in the balance sheet and we called a judge.
00:45:16But that's not what can happen with the national accounts.
00:45:19It can't.
00:45:20All right?
00:45:21And I think that's the point that the other general is making and we need to be sensitive to that.
00:45:24Yeah.
00:45:25Now, I take it the Attorney Minister has a good job, unfortunately.
00:45:28He also has to, there's a certain amount of credibility that he's losing on this basis and I'm pretty certain he must be very unhappy about it.
00:45:37I would like everything to fall in line.
00:45:39All right?
00:45:40And this person is just being ridiculous.
00:45:42All right?
00:45:43What is her job?
00:45:44Her job is to express an opinion.
00:45:46Have you satisfied all the requirements for that opinion?
00:45:49You're saying yes.
00:45:50And if she's saying that is not working, well then, she can't change hers.
00:45:57Yeah.
00:45:58Mr. Brown, if you could please stay with us for a few more minutes.
00:46:00We have to take a very short break.
00:46:02We'll be right back.
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00:49:27All right.
00:49:38So welcome back.
00:49:39So we are continuing our discussion this morning with a former minister in the Ministry of Finance, Mariano Brown.
00:49:47Mr. Brown, thank you very much for staying with us.
00:49:49We do appreciate it.
00:49:50Mr. Brown, if I could just lead you into another direction.
00:49:56We are really on the cusp of another budget to be presented by the finance minister in the next few weeks.
00:50:05As we look towards this new budget, what are the issues out there, Mr. Brown?
00:50:11There are many.
00:50:14I think the biggest issue for the minister of finances is affidavit on the TTRA matter and the matter with the appeal by one of the employees with regard to the constituency of the TTRA.
00:50:27And in his affidavit, the minister gave a very stark picture in terms of the economic performance of Trinidad and Tobago, particularly over the next three years.
00:50:38Now, in the media budget review, he never really addressed it in that fashion.
00:50:44So this is an election year.
00:50:47Well, he has to present the finances of the country in the best possible light moving forward.
00:50:54And the objective circumstances are very, very difficult.
00:50:59Energy prices, certainly natural gas prices are low.
00:51:03We know that our production is significantly down.
00:51:07And we do have, I forget the term that they use, but we do have supply problems.
00:51:15So none of the plans are operating at full capacity.
00:51:19So there are some issues with regard to the availability of revenue.
00:51:24Vanmiki Arjun indicated last week in the Guardian that the revenues from the energy sector were 51% less than they were in the previous year.
00:51:35Now, if his number is correct, and I think he's using from the Central Bank reports, so one presumes that the Central Bank numbers were correct, then in those circumstances, the minister has a very big hole to fill.
00:51:48Now, what has been happening since 2009 is that the expenditure side of the envelope has been expanded, but on the basis of revenue, which is inconsistent.
00:52:01A more conservative budget in number was the budget for your known revenue, the number that you could hit all the time, assisting from the higher number, and which is a problem.
00:52:13The expectations are that government will spend this amount of money, somewhere in the $60 billion bracket, when the revenue, unfortunately, is not at that level.
00:52:24Now, all that leads to is deficits, increased borrowings, which have to be paid for in the long run, and a debt service requirement.
00:52:35You don't have to far to look around the Caribbean to understand where that carries you.
00:52:40There is the example of Barbados and the example of Jamaica, and you will end up in a fund program.
00:52:46So the idea is you either address that problem yourself, or somebody will come to tell you how to deal with it.
00:52:52So I think that's where we are.
00:52:53We're still in a reasonably good position.
00:52:55We still have reserves, but the point is, and what has been happening, is that we haven't dealt with the issue of foreign exchange availability.
00:53:03If you have less foreign exchange, it can't all be available at the same price.
00:53:08Now, those are the issues that have to be dealt with, and if you don't have the revenue, well, you can't borrow forever.
00:53:17Now, it's an election year, so what's going to happen?
00:53:20Mr. Inbred is going to borrow, and that's clear.
00:53:23But at the same token, that does not solve Trinidad and Tobago's long-run issue, and the systemic issues with regard to the way our economy is functioning.
00:53:32Yeah.
00:53:33Mr. Brown, I only have about a minute again, but are we going to see an election budget?
00:53:39I know that some time ago, the prime minister, the government, they were speaking about the property tax.
00:53:46You think you're going to see that returning?
00:53:48What about these proposed increases for electricity rates?
00:53:52You think you're going to see that at all?
00:53:56I think they would probably try to postpone these things or not talk about them for as long as possible, but I think it's pretty obvious.
00:54:03I mean, have you looked at the long lines at the district revenue offices and at the Ministry of Finance?
00:54:10It is clear that people are paying their property tax.
00:54:13They're taking it very seriously.
00:54:15I don't see that changing.
00:54:18What are they going to do with utility rates?
00:54:21I think utility rates, which are pegged to property prices and rates.
00:54:25So I think that utility rates, certainly in the case of WASA, the rates are going to go up whether we like it or not.
00:54:31The only issue is when will they make that decision?
00:54:34Given the fact that WASA is in a deep financial bind and they do have to generate major repairs and upgrades, then the money has to come from somewhere.
00:54:44And if the central government is tight, the only thing that can happen is that consumers will have to pay more.
00:54:49That's the reality.
00:54:51Now, how you solve that politically, what message do you give?
00:54:57Because politicians sell hope, hope for the future.
00:55:01A brighter day is coming.
00:55:03Things are going to look up.
00:55:06Well, when?
00:55:08The best evidence so far is not until 2027.
00:55:12So we have to survive until 2027.
00:55:15Mr. Brown, it's always a pleasure speaking with you.
00:55:18Thank you for your time this morning.
00:55:20We do appreciate it.
00:55:21Bye for now, sir.
00:55:23Thank you very much for the opportunity.
00:55:25All right.
00:55:26So we are going to a very short break, everybody.
00:55:27We're coming back.
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00:58:20Good morning. I am Anselm Gibbs with a news update.
00:58:24Auditor General Jaywanti Ramdas is accused of not cooperating by the finance minister.
00:58:31The minister claims she has refused to clarify a critical matter in the special report of the auditor general on the public accounts for the financial year 2023.
00:58:44Her baseless assertion that the ministry of finance sought to unethically backdate the original 2023 accounts has been completely refuted.
00:58:56The auditor general in her audit opinion on page 25 did not state that she was satisfied that the error in the public accounts for financial year 2023 was corrected.
00:59:08We view this omission on her part as a continuing campaign of non-cooperation and criticism of public officials in the ministry of finance by the auditor general.
00:59:25Three more people have died as a result of dengue fever in Trinidad and Tobago.
00:59:30In its latest update, the health ministry says a total of 16 confirmed deaths have been recorded.
00:59:36Officials say there are at least 1,315 confirmed dengue fever cases.
00:59:44And in the weather forecast, expect partly cloudy conditions with a few isolated early morning and afternoon showers.
00:59:52There is a 60% chance of the isolated thunderstorm favoring western and hilly areas.
00:59:59Tonight, expect mostly fair conditions which may be interrupted by some brief isolated showers.
01:00:05Temperatures are expected to climb to 33 degrees Celsius in Trinidad and 32 in Tobago.
01:00:12Seas will be moderate with waves up to 2 meters in open waters and below 1 meter in sheltered areas.
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01:02:23All right, everybody. So welcome back.
01:02:25So we do have in the house this morning, as he's here every week.
01:02:29We do have media ambassador, acting inspector Ansel Ford.
01:02:33He's tested, tried and approved.
01:02:35You know, that's the gentleman there.
01:02:38Pleasant morning, Marlon. Pleasant morning.
01:02:42Yes, Marlon. Happy to be here for yet another session.
01:02:47So Marlon, during the course of last week, the commissioner via a briefing at the Ministry of National Security did speak on the issue in terms of demanding money by minutes slash extortion.
01:03:05And the reason why, it is because it is important to let members of the public know what is taking place in relation to some of the concerns that they would have.
01:03:18And one such concern is this criminal conduct of demanding money by minutes.
01:03:25And it is affecting a lot of the business persons because they are the ones primarily targeted.
01:03:31Now, we would have dealt with this topic a couple of times before.
01:03:36But what we want to communicate to members of the public on this particular occasion, two things.
01:03:43The fact that the commission of police in managing the resources saw it fit to, let me say, assign the responsibility for dealing with this particular offense and demanding money by minutes to Senior Superintendent Richard Smith, who has a team of officers working underneath him to treat with these reports.
01:04:07Now, in so doing, a hotline has been established and available for members of the public to communicate directly to Mr. Smith and his unit.
01:04:20That number is 797-2150.
01:04:25Yes, so Marlon, understanding that we are trying to assure members of the public that your particular concern, it is going to be dealt with.
01:04:39But in order for it to be dealt with, we need your cooperation.
01:04:44And in this particular case, we are speaking about the cooperation of the victims.
01:04:51And your cooperation starts with you making a report to the police.
01:05:01In addition to you taking the necessary steps to make yourself a harder target.
01:05:11Now, Mr. Ford, before we move on, are these numbers correct?
01:05:15Yes.
01:05:16Yes.
01:05:17797-2150.
01:05:18797-2150.
01:05:19Okay.
01:05:20Yes, 2150.
01:05:21Sorry about that.
01:05:22Yes.
01:05:23Marlon, so in terms of you making that report, we are saying we want a united response from the business persons, right?
01:05:36Again, understanding that we the police, we are here, ready to attend to your report.
01:05:42We want that united response, firstly, to say that we are not going to submit ourselves.
01:05:49We are not going to pay money to anybody who is demanding money of us.
01:05:56Whatever it is, it's to provide security for us, for us to feel safe, or to maintain our business.
01:06:04Anybody making that sort of demand without any lawful authority is committing an offense in the first instance.
01:06:14So by you, the business community or persons affected, adopting that position to say we will not,
01:06:22it weakens the criminal behavior from thinking that I would get Marlon, I will get Junior, I will get this business to pay if everybody adopts the same position.
01:06:36Now, on the last occasion, I identified that yes, that comes at a risk, and the risk is obvious, that the threat could be elevated towards you.
01:06:48I also spoke to the fact that even if you don't resist, that threat exists, and it will continue, right?
01:06:59So, by you not giving in is the first step, and where you have such a case, that you make the immediate move to call the police.
01:07:14Call the police and report it. Let us have the opportunity to start that investigation.
01:07:20Now, recently, as of last week, in North Central Division, we had a situation where two persons were arrested and charged for around eight counts of extortion, demanding money by menace.
01:07:40And that was only possible because a report was made. So we had something to investigate, and the result is what it is, that person was arrested and charged.
01:07:52So, understanding that if five persons are so affected, and nobody comes to make a report, then there will be no action to be taken on the part of the police.
01:08:04But I think that the main issue here, Mr. Ford, is the issue of fear. People fear for their lives. They fear for the lives of their family members.
01:08:16They fear that their businesses are going to be burned down, shut up, attacked.
01:08:22So there's this level of fear, and just to be fair to our viewers out there, we have seen where this has happened in the past.
01:08:32There have also been reports that, in some cases, people who were being extorted lost their lives.
01:08:40So when you take everything in context, and I'm not saying not to help the police, but when you put all of this in context, how do you get the citizen to say,
01:08:52well, all right, I believe that the police, they do have the mechanisms in place, and they'll do everything to protect me and my information when I give it.
01:09:01All right, Marlon. To give that level of comfort that you are speaking of, it is a challenge, simply because of the many opportunities that exist for someone to decide,
01:09:17I am going to try to extort money from John Brown. So many opportunities.
01:09:22How we, as the police service, how we respond is through investigating your report, Marlon, and putting the systems in place,
01:09:33such as what the commissioner would have done recently by establishing that unit and putting the responsibility under the charge of Senior Superintendent Smith.
01:09:45So members of the public can see that the effort of the police is there to deal with your report.
01:09:56And further, by us reporting, Marlon, on the success, where it is we would have had persons arrested and charged,
01:10:07it speaks to that sort of confidence that members of the public can repose in terms of the police trying to deal with that particular offense that, let us say,
01:10:18they would have been made victims to, or they are fearful of becoming a victim if I report it.
01:10:26The other side to it, Marlon, is that if you do not report it, you are a victim in silence.
01:10:34And I think that the greater fear should not be reporting it to the police, but not reporting it to the police.
01:10:50And why I'm saying that? Because every time that, let us say, someone pays money to that person who is demanding of them,
01:11:02they are simply making those persons more emboldened.
01:11:08They are giving them the means to acquire more resources, the means to sustain themselves, right?
01:11:18And that, Marlon, to me, is the greater fear because if it is that it may have been a small number of persons affected,
01:11:29we can see it growing because their empire is growing, right?
01:11:36And then we can really probably see that that particular thing is out of control.
01:11:42Using your resources to make the empire grow bigger and bigger.
01:11:47And that is the issue, that is what we identify, and that is what we are preaching against, right?
01:11:54Let us starve them of the resources by you, the person who they would have approached, who they would have threatened.
01:12:02Let us show them that we are prepared to go to the police, right?
01:12:09And give the police the opportunity to investigate and take you out of the system.
01:12:13When I say take you out of the system, arrest you, charge you, and put you before the court, right?
01:12:17And when these things happen on a more regular basis, I believe, and we believe,
01:12:23that the message would be communicated effectively to persons who are even thinking about it.
01:12:29They would know that, okay, I can't just do it and feel I could get away scot-free.
01:12:35If I do it, the chances are that I would be arrested because the victim will go to the police.
01:12:41Mr. Ford, I just have about a minute again.
01:12:44Yes. So, Marlon, in terms of how do you strengthen yourself, in terms of becoming a hard target,
01:12:51we are asking business persons in particular to assess your situation, assess your environment,
01:12:59identify what makes you vulnerable, and when you do that, make the necessary changes in your operations,
01:13:10whether it is in terms of how you handle cash, whether in terms of how you secure your business,
01:13:16how you secure persons, how you allow access, how you employ persons, right?
01:13:21You look at these particular things and remedy the situation, put a stronger system in place,
01:13:27and you implement it, see how it operates, and tweak it if necessary, right?
01:13:34Look at CCTV footage, right? If you can afford a nice security system, install it.
01:13:39It is not foolproof, but it allows the police to have a little more information.
01:13:44Now, Marlon, while time is running, there is also the ability to identify callers.
01:13:52You may have to pay for the service, right?
01:13:54So you have, whether it is on your cell phone, your business phone, you can pay for the service
01:14:01where callers can be identified, right?
01:14:05So if somebody calls you, which persons are doing, calling and demanding the money over the phone, right?
01:14:12Then we, the police, can have enough information to investigate with a view of identifying the persons,
01:14:20arresting and charging.
01:14:22So, Marlon, while it is not, I want to say, exhaustive, we will have dealt with some of the issues
01:14:30or some of the areas that members of the public get strengthened on, and we do encourage them to do that.
01:14:35And at the same time, support us by reporting each and every incident to the police,
01:14:42because each and every incident is an offence in relation to demanding money from you. Yes?
01:14:48Mr Ford, it is always a pleasure speaking with you.
01:14:51We do have this number. These numbers are very, very important numbers.
01:14:56If you are being, what's the word, being contacted by people and they want to extort monies and resources from you,
01:15:05please use these numbers.
01:15:07Mr Ford, as always, thank you very much for the information this morning.
01:15:10It is very much appreciated.
01:15:12See you right back here next week. Yes?
01:15:14Most welcome.
01:15:15All right, everybody, so we are going to a very short break.
01:15:17We are coming back.
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01:17:53Alright, everybody.
01:18:18So welcome back.
01:18:19the International Women's Forum of Trinidad and Tobago will honor four
01:18:23outstanding daughters of Trinidad and Tobago at its third annual Inspirational
01:18:27Women Awards Gala and that's going to be held on Tuesday 17th September. The event
01:18:32will take place at the Hyatt Regency in Port of Spain. We do have in studio with
01:18:36us this morning President Miss Joanne Salazar and we also have Vice President
01:18:43Mrs. Anna Maria Garcia Brooks. Ladies thank you very much for coming this
01:18:47morning. Thank you very much for having us. Before we move into the awards
01:18:51Miss Salazar let's speak a little bit about the International Women's Forum of
01:18:55Trinidad and Tobago. Tell us a little bit about it. Okay good morning and good
01:18:58morning to your listeners and watchers. The International Women's Forum of
01:19:02Trinidad and Tobago is the Trinidad and Tobago chapter of an international
01:19:06organization that is actually 50 years old this year. The purpose of the
01:19:12organization is really to unite, celebrate and inspire accomplished
01:19:15women as well as bringing on the next generation of women leaders and that's
01:19:20a very part very great part of our purpose. Yeah but how do women become a
01:19:24part of the organization? Well the women become a part of the organization by
01:19:29being nominated to be members by individuals who are already members and
01:19:34this is why we keep ourselves very grounded and very involved in the
01:19:38communities that we're part of so that we keep a very watchful eye out for
01:19:42those people who could be potential members. Yeah. Mrs. Garcia-Brooks let's
01:19:47speak a little bit about the awards, these gala awards that are coming up.
01:19:51Yeah we're all excited about them. This is our third year as you indicated
01:19:56earlier and it's aligned with part of our purpose which is in acknowledging
01:20:01and celebrating accomplished women. So this year we've identified four women
01:20:06these women were nominated by members and we're happy to say that we actually
01:20:10had 23 nominations from which we selected, the committee selected four and
01:20:16we are honoring them in four categories. The Inspirational
01:20:21Legacy Award which would honor a woman whose entire lifetime has been spent in
01:20:27the service of others in a particular field. We've got the Inspirational
01:20:31Champion of Women Award and of course that is self-explanatory that person
01:20:35advances other women in every area that she can. The Inspirational Advocate Award
01:20:41again somebody who's advocating for a cause and the Inspirational Emerging
01:20:46Leader Award. So this year the Inspirational Legacy Award which is the
01:20:50inaugural year for it will be awarded to Rhonda Mengu who is the co-founder of
01:20:57the Living Water Community and she co-founded that many years ago almost 50
01:21:02years ago with Rose Jackman and they do fabulous work in communities as I'm sure
01:21:07you would know and our viewers would know. There's the Inspirational Champion of
01:21:13Women Award goes to Deborah DeRosier who is the founder of the Eternal Light
01:21:18Community and several other charitable organizations and Deborah actually with
01:21:24the Roman Catholic Church just opened a school a vocational school in Sealots
01:21:29for the residents of Sealots and we're really expecting a lot of good to come
01:21:35out of that. The Inspirational Advocate Award is being given to Professor Judith
01:21:42Gobin, professor at the University of the Western. He's recently retired but an
01:21:47accomplished marine biologist who has done substantial work in looking at
01:21:53ecodiversity and that sort of thing and the Inspirational Emerging Leader Award
01:21:58is going to Akusua Dardane Edwards who is the founder of the Nina Foundation and
01:22:06that is a foundation that looks after the empowerment. She works with girls,
01:22:11young girls and women in schools and especially girls from the St. Jude
01:22:15School providing them with opportunities, employment opportunities, training, that
01:22:21sort of thing. Yeah, so read these awards Miss Salazar. Where can people get tickets?
01:22:27Okay, we have a website which they can refer to and there are numbers on that
01:22:32website which they can call and there are four members of the committee who
01:22:37will actually deal with the availability of tickets and the allotment of tickets.
01:22:40Yeah, let's let's get back a little bit to the awards and let's look at what is
01:22:47going to happen on the day itself, on the night, I suspect the night. Yes, the
01:22:52evening. Yes, we start at 6 o'clock with cocktails, a welcome reception. There's a
01:22:59lovely networking opportunity as well for guests. We're very happy that this
01:23:04year the president of IWF Global, Carolyn Carter, is joining us in person. So she
01:23:11will be here and a special guest of ours and as Joanne said, IWF is a very large
01:23:16global organization, over 8,000 members in 33 countries, six continents, it's huge
01:23:23and the Trinidad and Tobago Forum is extremely happy to have Carolyn join us.
01:23:28So we'll have that welcome reception, we go straight into the awards and dinner.
01:23:33There will be a couple addresses of course, there'll be entertainment,
01:23:37Carolyn will also be addressing us and very importantly the awardees would have
01:23:41an opportunity to address us as well and to speak to that group and that is
01:23:46where a lot of the inspiration is going to come in because they're going to be
01:23:50sharing their stories with that group of women, well not just women, guests
01:23:54generally, because there are a lot of men who will be attending as well and we have
01:23:58encouraged a lot of younger women in business and in various spheres who are
01:24:04aiming and moving forward and moving up in their chosen careers to attend and
01:24:10our understanding is that quite a number of them have been piqued by this, the
01:24:15opportunity to come there, the opportunity to witness what goes on, the
01:24:19opportunity to interact with a lot of other accomplished women, so we expect
01:24:24like we did last year to have a lot of those younger women coming forward.
01:24:30Ms. Aliza, unfortunately I only have a minute again, is there anything else that you'd
01:24:36like to tell us before you leave us this morning?
01:24:38Most definitely, one of the ambitions for the International, sorry the
01:24:42Inspirational Women Awards gala each year is to actually identify and unearth
01:24:47women who are really toiling in the vineyard and making an impact on the
01:24:51national landscape, that's the whole purpose of having the awards and we are
01:24:55really hoping that this is our third year, we're really hoping to establish it
01:24:59as a point in the national calendar between independence and Republic that
01:25:05people look forward to every year and begin to wonder well who are they
01:25:09going to honour this year, which pearl are they going to unearth this year,
01:25:13there are many many women doing fantastic work and we are hoping to
01:25:18unearth them and that's what we, that's the real buzz and purpose of the award
01:25:21and I should quickly say within the minute, the 30 seconds that I have left,
01:25:25that any surplus from the function, from the award
01:25:33will then be used to advance the next generation of women leaders and it
01:25:39would be very remiss of both myself and Ana Maria if we didn't say it would not
01:25:43be possible for us to actually put on this event without our sponsors, we have
01:25:48two platinum sponsors First Citizens and Republic Bank and let me say they've
01:25:53supported us last year and this year and they do not hesitate when we send our
01:25:59usual begging letter out at that point in time and we also have two gold
01:26:03sponsors BP and Kensington and we have two silver sponsors NGC and Scotia, we
01:26:10have a whole range of bronze sponsors as well, do I, can I extend my 30
01:26:15seconds to mention them, yes okay let me go, we have JMMB, we have the JMMB
01:26:21National Flower Mills, Grant Thornton, Pan American Life, TTMF that's now TTMB,
01:26:28Massey Southern Sales and Trinre, very important for us to mention our sponsors
01:26:33because we really couldn't put on the function without them and I must say
01:26:37that Celera is doing our welcome reception, we really have to be thankful
01:26:41to Angostura and Celera for doing that for the second year, ladies thank you
01:26:45very much, sorry to rush you off this morning but we're speeding this morning
01:26:48but thank you very much for coming this morning, we wish you all the best with
01:26:52the awards, thank you for the opportunity, thank you for having us, so we are going to a very quick break
01:26:55everybody, we're coming back
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01:28:03this segment is brought to you by Republic Bank, title sponsor and
01:28:08official bank of the Republic Bank Caribbean Premier League
01:28:18all right everybody, so we are discussing CPL and we are now joined by
01:28:29CPL's head of PR and communications Mr. Peter Miller, Peter good morning and
01:28:35thank you very much for joining us, it's always good to speak with you, morning
01:28:40how are you doing? I'm good, I'm good, well Peter let's let's begin this way, we
01:28:45are in the throes of the tournament at this time, if you could and I want a
01:28:51running commentary from you Peter, let's look and give us a synopsis as
01:28:57to what you would have seen thus far of the tournament, the big thing for me
01:29:02thus far both with the WCPL which obviously finished back on the 29th of
01:29:07August and the men's CPL which got underway that same day, it's the finish
01:29:11it had been absolutely incredible, we've had some outstanding games of cricket
01:29:15you know we've had super over in the women's, we've had last over finishes
01:29:21left right and center, it's been absolutely brilliant and I think what it
01:29:25does is one of the big talking points that I kept talking about before the
01:29:29tournament started to anyone who would listen was the quality of cricketers
01:29:33that were involved in the CPL this year and I think that's borne fruit really is
01:29:37that we have some absolutely outstanding cricketers and then at Warner Park we
01:29:41had you know an absolutely unbelievable, we had a joint world record for the most
01:29:46number of sixes hit in a game, 42 sixes hit and remember CPL is giving away
01:29:51money to our health and well-being foundation for every six that's hit so
01:29:55I'm not sure the CEO was overly pleased with the amount of sixes that were flying
01:30:00Too many sixes, too many sixes, the CEO is going to say too many sixes, fellas you
01:30:08need to cool it, cool it on the sixes right? But yes Peter I do agree with you
01:30:13I think that the games have been very very exciting, I think that the crowds
01:30:21that they have been playing really an integral role in making the games so
01:30:28interesting and exciting too so the crowds have been have been playing a
01:30:33great role in this too. Yeah we had record crowds in St Lucia for their
01:30:38first game there and then we're doing this amazing initiative where we've
01:30:42launched this new brand that's going to be doing stuff away from cricket with
01:30:46Live and Louder, we've had concerts in the crowds before and during the game
01:30:51which has really helped people get into the vibe of things and really enjoy
01:30:56themselves so as ever CPL is nothing without the fans and we need all of your
01:31:01viewers to carry on coming out and supporting us and I know people in Trinidad have thoroughly
01:31:06enjoyed their time at CPL over the years and I'm sure when we get there next week
01:31:09it'll be exactly the same. Yeah and speaking about next week and speaking
01:31:13about our fans Peter tell us what's in store for them as the as the days go by
01:31:19Yeah I mean here in Barbados we've got some great stuff coming up we've got a
01:31:23beach cricket event that's going to be having some of the the CPL commentators
01:31:27taking part and a few celebrity appearances along the way which will be
01:31:32really good fun then we've got you know here in Barbados you'll have the
01:31:36brilliant band leader Mac Fingal keeping everybody going there's hopefully an
01:31:41appearance from Hayley Matthews at one of the Royals games with the WCPL
01:31:45trophy they're kind of effected in the way that she a hundred percent deserves
01:31:49after her brilliant performance in that tournament player of the series yeah so
01:31:54we're just getting started to really you know we're two venues down we've got
01:31:57four venues to go for those of us working on the event Marlon it still
01:32:01seems like it's perhaps still climbing up the hill a little bit rather than
01:32:05just downhill all the way but things seem to be going well so far
01:32:08all right Peter we must go to a very short break we are coming back everybody
01:32:49an official bank of the Republic Bank Caribbean Premier League no matter where
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01:37:08alright everybody so welcome back so we are continuing our discussion with CPL
01:37:12head of PR and communications Peter Miller Peter thank you very much for
01:37:17staying with us Peter a little birdie has told me that a particular team is
01:37:22celebrating 10 years and they do have a new t-shirt for fans you know yeah TKR
01:37:3010 years of 10 years of that particular group owning the team and they've been
01:37:33fantastic partners for us you know they really really spent the time getting to
01:37:37know Trinidad and its culture and I think that's so important for anyone
01:37:41that comes to this region to have a full understanding of of how the Caribbean
01:37:44works and how these different countries work I think those who haven't been
01:37:47fortunate enough to visit can sometimes think of the Caribbean and when people
01:37:51talk about West Indies cricket as being one like homogenous mass and that just
01:37:57couldn't be any further from the truth you know I've been really fortunate that
01:38:00I visited four Caribbean countries over the last two weeks and every single one
01:38:05of them is so different and you know and that's something that I think the TKR
01:38:10team have really tried hard to understand you know they understand
01:38:12Trinidad and Trinidadian culture and that's really important one of the
01:38:15reasons why they've been so successful but you know what Peter just moving away
01:38:23from from that issue a little bit I think Peter from what I've seen because
01:38:28I've been looking at many of the matches and I think what has struck me is that
01:38:35how CPL has given a lot of young cricketers in the Caribbean an
01:38:42opportunity to play I mean we have seen it in the in the CPL where we in
01:38:47Trinidad and Tobago we have a 16 year old and we have seen Samara and we have
01:38:53seen in the men's game too where very young cricketers are playing in the game
01:38:59and playing on such a large platform speak about the impact of CPL and
01:39:06particularly as it relates to our young cricketers. Yeah it's something that's
01:39:12really important to us and something we've been talking about a lot with
01:39:13Cricket West Indies about how we can do more potentially in 2025 in terms of a
01:39:17developmental tournament that sits below CPL but I think for me the there's a
01:39:23rule within CPL where you have to play your two emerging players who are under
01:39:2723s that haven't played any international cricket yet five times
01:39:30across the tournament but what we've seen is those players have come along
01:39:34and it's not a bind for the teams to do it because they've been doing so well
01:39:38you've got 17 year old Joel Andrew in Antigua who I think is going to be an
01:39:42absolute superstar they played six matches so far and he's played all six
01:39:46so they're well past their quota already and I suspect he'll play all 10 because
01:39:51he is that good so across the tournament with those five appearances that you
01:39:56have to have from the six teams you have to have 13 appearances for these young
01:39:59players we're 11 matches in and we're at 18 which I think says something about
01:40:03how well these young players are doing and there's also young lads who played
01:40:07international cricket but still kind of sit within that category that have done
01:40:10well you know there's the petition McCall Louie who's scored a 50 in their
01:40:15last match and I can tell you the reception that he got when he was
01:40:20scoring runs in St. Kitts is not like anything anyone else gets in St. Kitts
01:40:25the excitement of the conditions to see one of their own doing well it's just
01:40:29absolutely fantastic and the two young lads that TKR have I think a potential
01:40:34to be very strong as well and I've got games in Shakir Paris and Nathan Edward
01:40:38so that for me is one of the big things from CPL is it's not just CPL 2024 it's
01:40:45not just the big names who were performing it's also these young lads
01:40:48who are coming in and doing well so that bodes well for the future of Caribbean
01:40:51cricket that makes me very very happy something that's very close to my heart
01:40:55so hopefully that's something that continues across the rest of the
01:40:59tournament and we'll see some really exciting performances and I think the
01:41:03other thing I like is that you'll have lads who have come in as relative
01:41:06unknowns into the CPL and then have come on to become names that have done well
01:41:10around the world you know you had Dominic Drake's who arrived as one of
01:41:13these emerging players and hit the winning runs at the 2021 CPL and is now
01:41:18a very established part of the Patriots squad
01:41:21Gudakesh Moti who's come in and done well, Kevin Sinclair who is not with us
01:41:29this year but has done brilliant things for Cricket West Indies in the past so
01:41:34yeah I think that for me is one of the big advantages that we've had in 2024
01:41:38and hopefully that's a theme that continues for the rest of the tournament
01:41:40and the years to come yeah Peter I know that we do have limited
01:41:45time with you this morning just in about a minute's time Peter and I want
01:41:51you to speak to the fans because they are so important to the game what
01:41:56and I know that you touched on it a little earlier but what more do you
01:42:00think as you try to get more and more fans to the games what do you think that
01:42:05that they should know about the tournament and about the excitement of
01:42:08the tournament and so on? I think for me the big thing is one you're guaranteed a
01:42:14good night out at CPL right you want to be there at the water cooler talking
01:42:18about how much fun it is but two the fun stands and the dancing and the cheer
01:42:23leaders and the party stands that you guys do so well in Trinidad are a big
01:42:27part of it but the cricket is as good as it's ever been I don't think I've seen a
01:42:31CPL where it's been stronger so the tickets are an amazing value they're
01:42:35really affordable for people and be really great if people came out to
01:42:38cplt20.com or to the box offices there in Trinidad yeah Peter it's always a
01:42:46pleasure speaking with you thank you very much and to speak to you I'm sure
01:42:50again in the future very soon bye for now Peter
01:42:54thank you okay we are going to very short break everybody more CPL when we
01:43:29we're all in it's CPL time to go big with TCL at courts shop at courts and
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01:47:39all right everybody so cricket gets us swinging and Guyanese cricket commentator
01:47:58John Ram Singh says the standard of the game has improved in the Caribbean due
01:48:03to the introduction of the CPL the 2024 Republic Bank CPL is currently on with
01:48:11a tournament having started on August 29th the first edition of the tournament
01:48:15was back in 2013 with many Caribbean fans agreeing that it's a biggest party
01:48:20in sport Guyana born journalist John Ram Singh has seen many improvements with
01:48:25the introduction of the competition so facilities have been top-notch to
01:48:28facilitate top-notch cricket also look at umpiring or match officials I think
01:48:34our regional umpires who are you know trolling the deep end sometimes start
01:48:39with some of the international counterparts they have done well they
01:48:43have maintained high standards as well not only for themselves but for the
01:48:47tournament and then of course cricket we look at cricket how Western these have
01:48:52been able to dominate world cricket especially in t20s especially in
01:48:56white ball format and I can say not only because of CPL but because of what
01:49:01these players bring to CPL because not only that they turn out for Indian
01:49:07numbers for CPL matches in terms of players but you see because of CPL they
01:49:11expose themselves the rest of the world and they get contracts to go on to play
01:49:16in the big bash to play in the hundred to play in the IPL having said that Ram
01:49:20Singh believes there's always room for improvement for one he says better
01:49:25scheduling is important for fans who have to go to work the following day if
01:49:29you can schedule more games I can't do weekends when our players sorry when
01:49:35families and so on are more available that'll be something interesting I know
01:49:39we have a lot of games in the week because of that schedule like I
01:49:42mentioned but you really want to see crowds coming out and in numbers you
01:49:46don't want to see empty seats because as professionals these guys would love to
01:49:50entertain the masses not only on television but also in the stands TKR
01:49:55have the most titles which is four followed by the now defunct Jamaica
01:49:59Talawars with three the Barbados Royals have two while the Guyana Amazon Warriors
01:50:04and St. Kitts and Nevis Patriots have one each so who in Ram Singh's view is
01:50:08the favorite for 2024 if you look at the Guyana Amazon Warriors the way they've
01:50:12gone about their business as defending champions you cannot rule them
01:50:17out at all that's one TKR they're heavily stacked with superstars cannot
01:50:22rule them out at all you know how to win big matches and how to win matches all
01:50:27right but they look at the rest Barbados Royals they've been always decent
01:50:32contenders they've always been a team that you can really look out for alright
01:50:37so those two teams the Patriots and the St. Lucia Kings for me they're not
01:50:41looking that strong Kings started pretty well with some wins but I think
01:50:46history shows that their inconsistency as well so the Falcons getting into the
01:50:52top three that would be my final four pick the playoffs and finals take place
01:50:56at the Providence Stadium in Guyana with October 6th being the day to decide who
01:51:01lifts the trophy. Vinod now on ETV6 Sport
01:51:41We're all in. Republic Bank title sponsor and official bank of the Republic Bank Caribbean Premier League.
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01:55:37I see you. OK, do your dance, do your thing. I see you. OK, let me see you, Cherry Hill.
01:55:47Now, take it back. Let me see you rock off, rock off, shake off, shake off. Let me see you rock off, rock off.
01:55:54He's fun. He's crazy. Let me see you get right now. Now, step forward. Now, step back. Lucas, bring the energy.
01:56:07The defending champion is back.
01:56:11All right, everybody. So welcome back. Just to tell you that TKR is playing tonight against St. Lucia in St. Lucia.
01:56:18And of course, TV6 is going to bring all of that live action to you later. All right.
01:56:24So that's going to do it for our program for today. See you all tomorrow, everybody. Have a good day. Bye for now.
01:56:36This segment was brought to you by Republic Bank, title sponsor and official bank of the Republic Bank Caribbean Premier League.
01:57:06.
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