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Minister of Rural Development and Local Government and Faris Al-Rawi – Photo by Angelo Marcelle

THE OPPOSITION UNC has made good on its threat to file legal action against the Government over its decision to proclaim parts of recently passed Local Government Reform Bill that could allow for local government elections to be delayed by a year. The bill passed on June 14 with a simple majority in Parliament.

On Tuesday, attorneys for activist Ravi Balgobin-Maharaj filed the claim in the High Court. Balgobin-Maharaj said, as a voter in the Maracas/Santa Margarita electoral district, he is aggrieved by the decision taken by Cabinet and announced recently by Local Government and Rural Development Minister Faris Al-Rawi.

Balgobin-Maharaj gave the Government until 4 pm on November 14 to return to the original period for holding the election – previously due between December 2022 and March 2023 – or he will go to court for judicial review relief.

With no response forthcoming, his attorneys filed the action. The lawsuit said, “there is the real risk that councillors, aldermen, and mayors will be unlawfully occupying their respective offices from December 3, 2022.”

Now, he wants several orders and an injunction restraining all councillors and aldermen from acting beyond December 3.

The lawsuit contends the decision of the Cabinet was unauthorised, contrary to law and an abuse of power to “retrospectively apply an amendment to the law to increase the terms of councillors which ultimately delays the local government elections.”

The claim, which seeks declarations to put a stop to an alleged government plan to postpone the local election, said any attempt to delay it by retrospectively applying the amendments to the Municipal Corporations Act would be a fraud committed on the electorate, in bad faith, and would amount to improper use of the legislation.

Balgobin-Maharaj is also asking to court to quash the declaration that local government elections are now due between December 4, 2023, to March 4, 2024, and the decision to extend the term of office of all councillors and aldermen.

“The decision also denies the electorate of their legitimate expectation that the councillors (whom) they elected in 2019 would only be in office for a three-year term.

“Furthermore, those persons serving on the council have also been denied their legitimate expectation that they would only serve a three-year term.”

Any decision to change or amend the act, the lawsuit further contended, must be done expressly and unambiguously.

“In other words, whenever elections are to be denied or deferred it ought not to be done by inference, indirect consequence or implication. The laws ought to be interpreted in a way which facilitates the holding of elections unless the contrary intention is expressly shown.

“In a democratic society such as Trinidad and Tobago, laws must be interpreted and construed to facilitate the holding of elections; when elections are to be postponed(which should only be done in the most exceptional circumstances), the relevant legislative enactment must be unambiguous and express in its language, intent, and purport.”

It also said it was “inherently wrong” for the Government to amend the law “under the guise of local government reform, only to attempt to apply those amendments implicitly in a piecemeal and retrospective manner to alter the terms of the council which was elected in 2019 under and by virtue of the law that existed at the material time.”

It added, “The effect of the Government’s interpretation of the law is to extend the life of the current council by one year.

It contends the electorate is being denied its right to vote in elections for that period by amendments which do not state on their face that it is to have a retrospective effect, and which clearly ought not to be interpreted in that manner.

It argued, “An analysis of whether the amendments have retrospective effect must be conducted subject to the constitutional significance of the right to vote.”

The lawsuit alleged the action of the minister and Cabinet “has given rise to the understandable perception that the Government is abusing its power to avoid and/or delay the local government elections in light of its poor ratings.”

It also mentioned amendments contemplated by the Patrick Manning-led administration to extend the term of councillors, but said the proposed amendments did not seek to retrospectively alter the law.

“Whilst the Manning administration took the bull by the horns and squarely promoted and confronted the true policy, purport and intent of these amendments, the present government is trying to secure an unlawful postponement of the local government elections through the back door by surreptitiously purporting to increase the term of office for councillors and aldermen by one year thereby indirectly allowing the Government to postpone the local government elections by one year to avoid facing the electorate.”

Balgobin-Maharaj is represented by Anand Ramlogan, SC, Renuka Rambhajan, Jayanti Lutchmedial, Robert Abdool-Mitchell, Natasha Bisram, and Vishaal Siewsaran.

In a pre-action protocol letter sent last week to the Prime Minister, Attorney General and Al-Rawi, Balgobin-Maharaj said he had grown frustrated by the poor representation in his district.

“The electoral district continues to have numerous potholes, the drains are not regularly cleaned, the environment is unkempt, and when it rains there is widespread flooding and mosquitoes in the area.”

He said he was looking forward to the local government elections “to vote for a new representative in hope that better representation could be provided for the burgesses of the electoral district of Maracas/Santa Margarita.”

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Black Immigrant Daily News

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Blessure Nkunku • TWITTER

Blessé ce mardi à l’entraînement, l’attaquant Christopher Nkunku souffre d’une entorse. Il est forfait pour la Coupe du monde.

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Black Immigrant Daily News

A Pennsylvania man was sentenced in a US court to just over 17 years in federal prison for attempting to provide material support to the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS), a designated foreign terrorist organisation.

Mustafa Mousab Alowemer, 24, of Pittsburgh, will be subjected to a lifetime of supervised release after completing his sentence.

He pleaded guilty in the Western District of Pennsylvania on September 16, 2021 to one count of attempting to provide material support to ISIS in connection with his plan to attack a church in Pittsburgh.

“Alowemer admitted to planning a deadly bombing of a Pittsburgh church in the name of ISIS,” said Assistant Attorney General Matthew G Olsen of the Justice Department’s National Security Division.

“The National Security Division was created to protect the nation from terrorist threats and we remain vigilant against those who would plot violent attacks on US soil in furtherance of an extreme ideology,” he added.

According to court documents, Alowemer plotted to bomb a church located on the north side of Pittsburgh using an explosive device.

His stated motivation to conduct such an attack was to support the cause of ISIS and to inspire other ISIS supporters in the United States to unite and commit similar acts in the name of ISIS.

Alowemer also targeted the church, which he described as a “Nigerian Christian” church, to “take revenge for our [ISIS] brothers in Nigeria”.

Alowemer was aware that numerous people in the proximity of the church could be killed by the explosion.

In furtherance of the plot to bomb the church, in May 2019, Alowemer distributed multiple instructional documents related to the construction and use of explosives and improvised explosive devices (IEDs) to an individual Alowemer believed to be a fellow ISIS supporter, but who was in fact an FBI employee.

Alowemer distributed these documents with the intent that the information be used in the assembly of a destructive device and in furtherance of conducting an attack in support of ISIS.

In or around June 2019, Alowemer purchased several items, including nails and acetone (nail polish remover), with the belief that they were necessary to assemble a destructive device and with the intention they be used to construct the explosives that would be detonated in the vicinity of the church.

Between April 16 and June 11, Alowemer met four times in person with an FBI undercover employee (UCE) and/or an FBI confidential human source (CHS).

At the June 11 meeting with the UCE and CHS, Alowemer provided additional details about the bomb plot and provided the materials, including boxes of nails, he had purchased for construction of the device.

Alowemer provided printed copies of detailed Google satellite maps, which included hand-written markings identifying the church and routes of arrival and escape.

Alowemer also wrote and provided a 10-point handwritten plan outlining details related to his plot to personally deliver explosives in a backpack.

Alowemer expressed a desire to meet one more time to conduct planning and coordination prior to carrying out the attempted bombing in July 2019. That meeting was later scheduled for June 19 in the Pittsburgh area, at which time Alowemer was arrested.

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Lionel Messi has named Brazil, France and England as his favourites to claim World Cup glory in Qatar.

The seven-time Ballon d’Or winner will feature at his fifth World Cup this year, when he will look to help Argentina to their first triumph at the tournament since 1986.

Messi was named Player of the Tournament when Argentina reached the World Cup final in 2014, but the Paris Saint-Germain star believes other teams head to Qatar in a better position than the Albiceleste.

“Whenever we talk about candidates, we always talk about the same teams,” Messi told South American football federation CONMEBOL.

“If I have to put some above others, I think Brazil, France and England are a little bit above the rest.

“But the World Cup is so difficult and so complicated that anything can happen.”

All six of Messi’s World Cup goals to date have been scored in the group stages, and he has failed to net in 756 minutes of action in the knockout rounds of the tournament.

However, Messi was in inspired form as Argentina finished as runners-up to Germany eight years ago, contributing to 63 per cent of his team’s goals in Brazil (5/8, with four goals and one assist).

He believes Lionel Scaloni’s team can grow into the tournament this time around.

“We are very excited. We have a very nice group that is very eager, but we think about going little by little,” Messi said.

“We hope to start the World Cup in the best way to face everything that comes after. The more you play and the more time you spend on the pitch, the more you get to know each other.”

Argentina begin their Group C campaign against Saudi Arabia next Tuesday before facing Poland and Mexico.

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