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West Indies captain Jason Holder

JASON Holder has urged his West Indies teammates to “hit the ground running” when they face Zimbabwe in their ICC T20 World Cup First Round Group B encounter at the Bellerive Oval, Hobart, Australia on Wednesday.

At the Bellerive Oval on Monday, the West Indies were soundly beaten by 42 runs against Scotland while Zimbabwe whipped Ireland by 31 runs.

Holder was one of the few shining lights for the West Indies on Monday. He took two wickets for 14 runs, off three overs, as Scotland posted 160 runs for the loss of five wickets. Holder then top-scored with 38, off 33 balls, as the West Indies were bowled out for 118 off 18.3 overs.

Holder touched on the attitude within the squad after the Scotland defeat.

“We had a tough start (on Monday),” he said, during a Zoom media conference on Tuesday (Monday evening TT time). “We’re all disappointed by the performance that we had, but I think the most important thing for us is to come together, even tighter now, and try to find solutions.

“We had a pretty good chat after the game and I’m sure guys went into their rooms and reflected on their performance (on Monday). No doubt I think we have what it takes to turn it around and it’s more-or-less hitting the ground running against Zimbabwe, starting that game well and beating them.”

The top two teams from this group will advance to the Super 12 phase of the T20 World Cup.

The West Indies lost five wickets to spin on Monday, with left-armer Mark Watt taking 3/12 and off-spinner Michael Leask 2/15.

Holder made it clear that “I’m not too worried about us playing against spin. For us, it’s about playing situations a little bit better, building a few more partnerships in the middle phases of the innings and setting it up nicely for the heavy hitters in the back.”

Asked what the West Indies team expect from Zimbabwe, Holder replied, “They seem to be on a nice winning streak (eight out of their last nine T20 Internationals) so we expect a highly competitive game and probably one of the toughest games we’ll have in this competition, and no doubt we know the magnitude of the game.”

The two-time T20 World Cup champions are known for their six-hitting ability, but Holder commented, “We’ve got to find solutions. We obviously didn’t bat well (on Monday) and we’ve probably let ourselves down with the bat in the recent past.

“We just need to understand what is required of us when we go out to bat and find ways to form partnerships, to make it easier as we go on in the tournament.”

About the pace-friendly conditions in Australia, the experienced fast-medium bowler said, “The conditions here are really good for bowling. You tend to get a little bit more bounce on these surfaces and a little bit more movement.

“Maybe we’ve got to be a little bit more clinical when we bowl and definitely improve on our batting.”

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door Ivan Cairo PARAMARIBO — Het onderzoek naar de oliemors vorige week op de Surinamerivier is nog gaande. De vervuiler

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Police Administration Building, Port of Spain. File photo/Jeff Mayers

AFTER a month, the police are still unable to issue certificates of character, a key requisite for many job-seekers, the police told Newsday on Tuesday.

One woman bitterly complained to Newsday on Monday that she and dozens of colleagues, who were unemployed or laid off from the health sector post-covid19, have arranged jobs overseas but were now being kept back by not being able to supply certificates of character to their prospective employers.

On September 14, a police statement said the certificates could not be issued because of an unspecified system malfunction. “The TTPS is working to restore the system, which has been experiencing technical difficulties for the past several months, to its optimal function.

“The public will be updated as to when the CoC system is repaired. The TTPS apologises for all inconveniences for the disruption in service and assures that all possible efforts are being made to remedy the situation in the shortest possible time frame.”

On Thursday, Insp Michelle Lewis of the police communications unit told Newsday the system was still not working, and did not say when it was likely to be back up. “Kindly be advised that the service is still down and we are working feverishly to resolve this issue.”Please continue to check our social media pages and our website for further updates.”

Lewis said people could still go to appointments for certificates and then present the receipt as proof to relevant agencies. “When the system is back up and functioning,” she said, “the CoC validity period of six months will commence from that time.”

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Fire officers search for the body of Theresa Lynch in the Caroni River, Trincity last Thursday. File photo/Angelo Marcelle

Saying Caroni East has become a dumping ground for murder victims, MP Dr Rishad Seecheran is calling on National Security Minister Fitzgerald Hinds to act now on the worsening crime situation in central Trinidad.

“Killings have become as common as flooding from the Caroni river,” Seecheran said in a statement, triggered by the discovery on Monday afternoon of two bodies which had been chopped into pieces and put in garbage bags in a river at Mon Plaisir Road, Cunupia.

“This is just the latest heinous crime in Caroni East,” he said, also referring to the discovery of two other bodies with gunshot wounds at Freedom Street, Enterprise.

“Communities that were formerly safe and peaceful have become the country’s new bloody killing fields, and Minister Hinds continues to be negligent and unresponsive to this growing crisis.

“The murder count in these districts continues to rise, and each killing appears to be more horrific than the previous one.”

Comparing past and present life in the constituency, Seecheran said there is an absence of the security and safety felt then.

“Caroni East is not only at the centre of the island of Trinidad, but is also at the heart and soul of the country. Only a few years ago, residents of the communities of Caroni East lived with a relative sense of safety and security. They were allowed to be neighbourly in an old-fashioned way, to keep their homes and businesses virtually unguarded, to walk and drive around freely.

“Today, our once quiet districts are killing fields. They are dumps for murder victims. They are open drug turfs and centres of human carnage.

“This is most evident in Caroni East. Almost every day there are gory murders, wild shootings, noisy drug parties, and other wanton acts of lawlessness. There are so many brutal slayings that it is difficult to keep count. The victims are of all ages and of all groups in society.”

He repeated a call for the assignment of more crime-fighting resources to these areas, including a police post, CCTV cameras, and regular police patrols.

Seecheran also called for the police to improve their intelligence-gathering and surveillance. He also advocated for the reactivation of the police youth group and other creative solutions.

“The indifference by the government to this worsening emergency has led to widespread fear and is affecting people’s accustomed lifestyles and business operations.

“The Minister of National Security, Fitzgerald Hinds, has only offered explanations, excuses and guarantees. Still, the homicides take place.

“I strongly urge the government to appreciate the current catastrophe in the communities of Caroni East and surrounding districts and to respond with the urgency and seriousness that the circumstances warrant.”

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Gary Griffith. File photo/Sureash Cholai

FORMER police commissioner Gary Griffith sent a pre-action protocol letter to acting Commissioner of Police Mc Donald Jacob on Tuesday for allegedly tapping both hisand his wife’s cellphones.

Griffith spoke at a media conference on Tuesday at the Flament Street, Port of Spain headquarters of the National Transformation Alliance (NTA), which he leads.

He was accompanied by his attorney Larry Lalla, who said tapping Griffith’s phones is illegal, as he has never committed any crimes to justify such an act.

In the letter, dated October 18, Lalla said action is being taken because Jacob exercised his powers under Section 6 of the Interception of Communication Act to initiate the phone tap. As well as threatening to sue Jacob, the letter also said Lalla would take action against the Attorney General, challenging the constitutionality of that section of the law.

It said, “For the immediate purposes of this missive we must put you on notice and frontally allege that your said interception of communication on Mr Griffith’s phones was done and authorised by you unlawfully, irrationally and in breach of your duty.”

Lalla alleged that the phone-tapping was done without any police report of criminality, without any preliminary investigation into Griffith, without the approval of a judge and without any justifiable reason to suspect Griffith committed any criminal offence.

During the media conference, Griffith said as national security adviser he did not envisage the law being used to monitor political opponents of the government. The law was brought to Parliament in 2010 by the People’s Partnership and lays down who may tap phones and under what circumstances.

He said this was done after a previous prime minister allegedly authorised the tapping of cellphones belonging to his political opponents. Griffith said the legislation allowed for any of three people to authorise wire-tapping: the Police Commissioner, director of the Strategic Services Agency (SSA) or the Chief of Defence Staff.

He said there are two instances where phones can be tapped: one without a warrant, where the only justification is that there is some “intelligence” that allows it, and the other through a warrant. He intends to have the former removed so that all wiretaps are done solely on the basis of a warrant.

The letter added that since Jacob is a candidate for the post of police commissioner, as is Griffith, the wiretapping is biased and a conflict of interest and therefore should be considered null and void.

At the media conference Griffith said he is calling out Jacob to provide whatever information he has to corroborate why his cellphones are tapped. He said Jacob should have recused himself and presented his intelligence to any of the other two authorised people to facilitate the tapping.

“Tell the public what you have on Gary Griffith to justify that you can invade my privacy, because I can tell you, and again I am telling the country, today is me, tomorrow it could be you. We cannot continue this ‘democratic dictatorship.’”

Asked if during his 37 months as head of the police service he had ever tapped someone’s phone solely on the basis of intelligence, Griffith said no.

“You must have probable cause. You can’t just say, ‘I don’t like Jensen,’ or I just use the word ‘intelligence.’ As Commissioner of Police, the power that is given, if you give an ignorant person power, they will abuse it.”

Griffith denied that Jacob’s “coming clean” on why his phone was being tapped constitutes tipping-off, which under the Proceeds of Crime Act is a criminal offence. He said given that he committed no crimes, tapping his cellphones tantamount to an intrusion on his right to privacy.

Griffith said he was told about his cellphones being tapped some time within the last month. He emphasised that the person who informed him was not “tipping him off” and thereby breaking the law. Griffith said the interception started in May, around the time he launched his political party, and questioned the coincidence.

Newsday called Jacob, who is in the UK on official duties, but all calls went unanswered.

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