Picture tells it all!

Who is this man?

You have seen him in the picture in the previous post on the San Fernando City Corporation project at 366 Sixth Street, Marabella. His name is Randolph Patrick and he is believed to be an environmental worker in the company Marryshow Maintenance Services Limited.

He is also an employee of Hasoma Company Limited and is present on the worksite once work is in progress. Councillor Jennifer Marryshow is a shareholder of Marryshow Maintenance Services Limited and a Director of Hasoma Company Limited. The Registered Offices for both companies share her home address at 3 Theresa Street, Marabella. Read more...

So who is the contractor now?

This picture was taken at 366 Sixth Street, Battoo Avenue, Marabella, a contract awarded by the San Fernando City Corporation to Hasoma Company Limited

Marabella residents are calling on the City's Chief Executive Officer, Marlene Coudray, to explain the award of a contract by the San Fernando City Corporation to an elected member of the Council.

Residents were first alerted when, over the last six weeks they saw Councillor Jennifer Marryshow, the member for Marabella West supervising the project at Sixth Street, Battoo Avenue, which is in the Marabella East district represented by Deputy Mayor Malaika Blair.

This coincided with the presence of a worker on the project, Randolph Patrick, who is also a CEPEP employee in a company owned jointly by Councillor Marryshow and Marabella businessman Allen Campbelle. Materials for the project were delivered by the CEPEP Company's truck driver Sonny Baksh early in the morning while the company was engaged in environmental work all around the Marabella West area. It is also believed that Baksh is on CEPEP's payroll but I was unable to confirm this.

The Engineering Department of the Corporation told us that Hasoma Company Limited and Kerwin Belfon were the two contractors building a drain around 366 Sixth Street which will take water from the drains in the community into the Marabella River.

When we checked the records of the company at the Companies Registry, it was discovered that the company was indeed incorporated in 2005 by Jason Bobb, whose address is the same as Councillor Marryshow’s, 3 Theresa Street, Marabella. This is also the registered address of the company. Mr. Bobb is believed to have been the common-law spouse of Miss Marryshow

In 2008, Councillor Marryshow was named a director of Hasoma in a notice of change of directors. No annual returns have been filed since incorporation, so there is no record of shareholders, but a source close to Councillor Marryshow told us that the power in Hasoma is wielded by Marryshow.

Contacted yesterday, Mr. Campbelle said he is no longer involved in the day-to-day running of the CEPEP company Marryshow Maintenance Services, but to the best of his knowledge be believes Mr. Patrick to be on the CEPEP payroll. He was later able to confirm that when he drove by the construction site, Mr. Patrick was there at the same time his CEPEP work gang was engaged in environmental work. SPACEAGE also spoke to an official at CEPEP, Chaguanas who promised to let us know if Mr. Patrick's name was on their payroll for those days. He said that CEPEP is a regular on-going programme and the workers remain on their payroll unless they are removed by the contractor. He also said that NIS is paid for those workers so it is easy to trace who the employer is.

The Corporation said its process for prequalification and the award of contracts is simple. First the Chief Executive Officer is informed and the engineering department supplies a prequalification form to get details of the applicant for scrutiny. All contracts are awarded through a tenders committee. This means that all parties would have known that the company is linked to Miss Marryshow because of her address and Mr. Bobb, who we are told, all officials are familiar with.

Asked if they were aware that Councillor Marryshow has an interest in Hasoma, the Deputy CEO Ragoobar said that there was nothing wrong with a Councillor getting a contract. He said that anybody could form a company and tender for a contract.

I have news for Mr. Ragoobar, a senior public servant! The Central Tenders Board Act states very specifically that no government employee, elected official, spouse, child could be awarded a government contract. These conditions apply to contracts awarded by the Central Tenders Board, the Special Ministerial Tenders Committee and the local tenders committees at the Municipal Corporations.

Councillor Marryshow has not been answering her cell phone and we are told that she does to respond to numbers that she does not recognise. Tough luck for constituents who may need her urgently.

We have informed Mr. Ragoobar that we will make a request for information from the Council for all contracts awarded to Hasoma since its incorporation and the value of those contracts. So Look out for that information.

Police Planning

Friday, May 29th...that's around month end right? Saturday, May 30th, that's a public holiday, Indian Arrival Day. So then the weekend could easily be called a holiday weekend.

To recap... month end, holiday weekend...plenty commercial activity, traffic, the works.

So on this busy Friday morning, this is what is happening in SanFernando. Students of Vistabella Presbyterian School circle the San Fernando Hill on a walkathon. The route.... Circular Road to Mon Repos traffic light, Royal Road, along Coffee Street, Harris Promenade, High Street, (yes High Street!), Pointe -a-Pierre Road back to the School.

This walkathon is escorted by a police vehicle. The students are chanting "Go Green!"

Now if you have ever seen Vistabella Presbyterian School, it is a blue concrete block with not a sign of green. But they are teaching us about green. Yes they are!

The question is, however, how do the police ever come up with permission for these events on days such as these? The long lines of bumper to bumper traffic are more likely to make people "See Red" than "Go Green".

What this tells us is that there is need for the police to understand this City. I'll share a few anecdotes with you so you will know how the service works.

1. I once flagged down a police vehicle on Cipero Street near Republic Bank to show them that the bank's customers preferred to park on the pavement than the bank's parking lot. Pedestrians were forced to walk in the street to accommodate these customers. The policeman looked at the vehicles on the pavement and said "I don't see a No Parking sign there?"

2. I called Mon Repos Police to ask for an officer to speak to the students of Mon Repos R.C. School about their behaviour on the streets. The police station is 300 feet away from the school. And the officer...clearly his head is in the clouds... "I didn't know there is a school there..."

3. I called again to let the police know that someone was tying nylon wire across the streets at night. Cars caught in the web had to stop to cut the line. The policeman's offering.."Why would they want to do that?"

Happy policing!!!

Fr. Michel celebrates a double

This weekend marks a double celebration for Catholic priest Fr. Michel de Verteuil.

On June 5, Fr. Michel celebrates his 80th birthday and this coincides with the 50th anniversary of his ordination to the priesthood.

A member of the Holy Ghost Congregation, he is now based at the Fatima Community, Fatima College, Mucurapo Road, Port of Spain. Fr. Michel distinguished himself as a leader when he was Rector of the Seminary of St. John Vianney and the Ugandan Martyrs at Mount St. Benedict in the 1960s and 1970s. Among his prized students are Fr. Clyde Harvey, Fr. Christian Pereira and Ronald Tagallie who is no longer a priest.

He was recognised internationally for his teachings using the Lectio Divina Method of Meditation, (easily googled) and travelled far and wide to share his knowledge. He established the Archdiocesan Pastoral Centre at the Chaplaincy in St. Augustine. For years the Centre served as the backbone for outreach and teaching in the Catholic Church. Every year in the first week of August, hundreds of parish activists and parish council members came together at Mount St. Benedict for Liturgy School.

Many young people rallied around Fr. Michel, a fine mind and leading thinker in the local Church.

In the 1990s, Fr. Michel took over the editorship of the Catholic News and transformed it from a drab publication to a modern newspaper. He served as editor until he resigned four years ago.

Congratulations to Fr. Michel for the wonderful work he has done in all the rural communities around Trinidad and Tobago.