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Kaia Smith, left, and Nicholai Lewis, graduates of the Faculty of Food and Agriculture, and Anastasia Mootoo who graduated from the Faculty of Science and Technology. – AYANNA KINSALE

UWI honorary graduand Dr Shakuntala Haraksingh Thilsted urged graduates of The UWI St Augustine’s Faculties of Science and Technology and Food and Agriculture to think and learn globally and act locally as they explore life outside the institution.

An honorary doctor of science (DSc) degree, honoris causa (as a mark of esteem), was conferred on her by the university for her dedication, scientific genius, and immeasurable contribution to global well-being.

At the graduation ceremony on Thursday at the Centre of Excellence, Macoya, Thilsted, who was born in Reform Village, remembered her graduation ceremony. She said when she graduated in 1971, all UWI faculties were able to graduate in one day.

Honorary graduand Dr Shakuntala Haraksingh Thilsted delivers an address at Thursday’s graduation. – AYANNA KINSALE

She said, presently the global situation is dominated by the disruptions and hardships caused by covid19, conflicts, and climate change. She said at the UN Food Systems Summit 2021, there was a unified call for transforming food systems for nourishing people and the planet, with a particular call to focus on youth.

“Your short-term goals for yourself and the more long-term goals for contributing to all people, including your community, your nation, and our planet can surely complement each other. Build on the support of your family and friends and make full use of the networks and platforms which you have developed. Make full use of the present-day data technologies, science and innovations which are accessible to you, however, combine them with the richness and diversity of traditional and local knowledge and culture to arrive at the best solutions that are appropriate for you. Think and learn global and act local. There are many opportunities to do this, learning about the innovations and solutions from islands in the Pacific as well as countries in Caricom.”

She said when she graduated, she realised she had the opportunity to explore many pathways, including untraditional ones.

“I decided to work as an agricultural officer in Tobago, in the field, with small-scale farmers. I was the only female agricultural officer in Tobago. This work experience showed me new horizons, and gave me the opportunity to spread my wings further afield, and with higher education, being comfortable to take on global assignments. My first, after acquiring my PhD, was as a junior professional officer with FAO posted in Tanzania. You can do the same as I did.”

Ashaki Jones, a former student of the Faculty of Science and Technology, shows off her mortarboard after she graduated on Thursday from the University of the West Indies at the Centre of Excellence, Macoya. – AYANNA KINSALE

UWI public orator Dr Elizabeth Walcott-Hackshaw said Thilsted is the winner of the 2021 World Food Prize, an award considered to be the equivalent of the Nobel Prize for Food and Agriculture. Her research on the nutritional composition of small native fish species commonly found and consumed in Bangladesh and Cambodia demonstrated that these affordable, locally available foods, offered life-changing benefits for children’s cognitive development in their first 1,000 days of life.

From 1960 to 1967, Thilsted attended Naparima Girls High School in San Fernando, and went on to study at The UWI St. Augustine. In 1971 she graduated from the Faculty of Agriculture with a BSc in Tropical Agriculture, and received her Doctorate in the physiology of nutrition from the Royal Veterinary and Agricultural University in Denmark. She holds several high-level positions in organisations dealing with food security and nutrition globally.

Graduates of the Faculty of Science and Technology Wisden Liverpool, left, and Daniel Liverpool smile for a photo with their parents, from left, Kevin Lewis, Narissa Lewis, Annette Bradshaw, and Kurt Liverpool after their graduation ceremony hosted by the UWI St Augustine campus at the Centre of Excellence in Macoya on Thursday. – AYANNA KINSALE

Valedictorian Ashleigh Ali said returning to campus after two years was surreal, and said she experienced longing and a wish to take back the last two years. She said she and her fellow graduates overcame this year’s obstacles because of their co-dependency on each other’s powers.

“I came to realise that each and every one of us has their own special powers. To our chemists, biologists, and physicists: you are the pioneers for future scientific progress and the discovery of life’s unanswered questions. These findings will allow our future agricultural economists and food scientists to be the catalysts for change. You will ensure that policies are implemented for food safety and guarantee that our Caricom nations have equal access to affordable and nutritious food.

“To my fellow nutritionists and dietitians: we will then share this evidence-based nutritional knowledge and safeguard the health and wellbeing of everyone on a local and regional level.”

UWI chancellor Robert Bermudez commended the graduates on completing a significant part of their programmes under trying circumstances.

“Higher education plays a role in the democratisation of societies by encouraging graduates to be critical thinkers, to be objective in assessing the information available, to be open to other schools of thought, in the hope that that information will be used for the advancement of the societies in which you exist. I ask that whatever you do in the future must be impactful, done at a high quality, with commitment to advancing not only your personal interests but those of the wider community.

“I urge you to be kind to yourself. We often forget the importance of taking care of our own health. In today’s new operating environment, mental health is as critical as physical well-being. Hold fast to your dreams, but remain rooted in reality.”

Graduation ceremonies for The UWI St Augustine will continue until Saturday.

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Minister in the Ministry of Finance Brian Manning. –

MINISTER in the Ministry of Finance Brian Manning welcomed the news on Thursday that TT received higher revenue for the last fiscal year than was originally estimated.

But former minister in the ministry of finance Vasant Bharath did not believe this news painted a true picture of TT’s economic reality.

The National Transformation Alliance, led by former national security minister and former police commissioner Gary Griffith, welcomed the improved revenue, but said Government could not take credit for it.

The Opposition UNC believed the improved revenue announced by the Finance Ministry shows more evidence of a disconnect between Government and reality.

In a statement on Thursday, the ministry said when Finance Minister Colm Imbert presented the 2022/2023 budget in Parliament on September 26, the revenue figures for fiscal 2022 were based on actual figures from October 1, 2021-August 31, 2022 and estimated figures for September 2022.

“However, the Board of Inland Revenue has since finalised the actual revenue figures for fiscal 2022 and it has been determined that the total revenue in fiscal 2022 was $54.21 billion, which is $2.57 billion more than the revised estimate announced in September 2022, and $10.88 billion more than the original revenue estimate of $43.33 billion for fiscal 2022, made in October 2021.”

The ministry said, “With total expenditure for fiscal 2022 now estimated at $54.54 billion, the fiscal deficit for 2022 is now estimated at $329 million, which is less than 0.2 per cent of GDP (Gross Domestic Product), well below the international benchmark for fiscal deficits of three per cent of GDP.”

The ministry added, “In essence, we have achieved an almost balanced national budget in Fiscal 2022, something that has not occurred in TT since 2008, 14 years ago.”

Manning said TT’s receiving better revenue than estimated for fiscal 2022 is good. But this was no reason to throw caution to the wind or make changes to measures outlined in the budget in September.

He said, ” We are still cautiously optimistic and believe that the measures implemented are the most prudent at this time.”

But Bharath countered, “For the Ministry of Finance to take any credit whatsoever for this temporary increase in revenues is a blatant attempt to hoodwink the population into a false sense of security when our reality is the complete opposite.”

Former minister in the ministry of finance Vasant Bharath. –

He argued the increased revenue for fiscal 2022 had nothing to do with fiscal policies implemented by the Government over the last seven years. The higher revenue was connected to circumstances outside of TT’s control such as the geopolitical tensions between Russia and Ukraine.

Bharath said, “The TT economy has suffered negative growth for six consecutive years, with real GDP falling by 15.7 per cent, during which time our Caricom neighbours have grown by 3.2 per cent and the rest of the world by 21.4 per cent.”

He said the recently published retail price index indicates the cost of living has increased by 18 per cent since 2015, without a commensurate increase in wages.

“There is sustained economic and institutional decline across the country, governance is at its weakest and reforms are not happening.”

Bharath said measures such as increased taxation via reductions in the fuel subsidy, proposed property tax, and withdrawals from the Heritage and Stabilisation Fund have failed to instil confidence or improve “growth prospects in a flat and failing economy.”

In a statement, the NTA said it was pleased with the increased revenue mentioned by the Finance Ministry.

But the party cautioned, “We must remain vigilant of the meaningful fiscal and structural reforms necessary to put us on a path to meaningful social and economic recovery.”

NTA Political Leader Gary Griffith. –

The NTA agreed with Bharath that TT’s improved revenue was due to global circumstances which contributed to higher energy prices and TT benefited as a result of this.

“The Government of TT was very fortunate for this windfall and should be seeking to build on it, not claiming credit for it.”

The NTA said Government should not be playing with statistics and semantics.

The party argued that even if the budget for fiscal 2022 is balanced, the deficit from fiscal 2016-2022 still needs to be reduced.

Against this background, the NTA said, “We still have a long way to go before we can have an actual balanced budget.”

UNC chairman Davendranath Tancoo claimed Imbert is living in an alternate universe if Government is speaking about increased revenue and balancing the budget.

UNC chairman Davendranath Tancoo. –

“Citizens are experiencing the worst standard of living that they have ever had in our country’s history.”

Tancoo said public protests against crime, poor infrastructure and high food prices are examples of this.

“It is clear that for Minister Imbert and his government, the PNM now stands for the ‘people never mattered.’”

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L’activité économique résiste, mais gare à la résurgence de l’inflation: la croissance française a nettement décéléré au troisième trimestre, le PIB ne progressant que de 0,2% après un bond de 0,5% au printemps…

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File photo: Faris Al-Rawi

A group of concerned citizens in San Fernando is calling for a proposed housing development within the area of Todd’s Street and environs to be stopped immediately.

The call was made in a statement issued by the group, after a meeting on Wednesday.

Newsday understands the group comprises 100 people who are residents, property owners, members of business groups and representatives of schools in Todds Street and environs.

In the statement, issued by the group’s spokesperson, Pundit Rudranath Maharaj said the group has several concerns about the construction of 100 apartments in a green space between the San Fernando West Secondary School (to the north), San Fernando Central Secondary School (to the south), Todd Street (on the west) and privately held lands (to the east)

Maharaj listed the group’s concerns.

The project would decimate one of the last green spaces in San Fernando; parts of the lands for the project were designated for the use of two adjacent secondary schools; removal of vegetation could negatively impact on drainage and flooding in the area; an increase in traffic congestion and parking, residents who occupy the proposed apartments would not benefit from proper amenites or proper housing planning and health and safety concerns for students and residents from construction activities.

Maharaj identified the ASJA Boys and Girls Colleges, San Fernando TML Primary School, Shri Krishna Kindergarten and the ASJA Primary School as some of the places which would be adversely affected by construction of the proposed apartments.

Maharaj questioned the need for this project in light of recent Housing Development Corporation (HDC) developments in San Fernando such as Carlton Lane which are not fully occupied as yet.

He identified a location near the Mon Repos Roundabout and another location as part of the San Fernando waterfront project as areas which could be used to boost San Fernando’s housing stock

Maharaj said no consultation was held with stakeholders about this project by San Fernando West MP Faris Al-Rawi, the HDC or any government ministries

“This was quite unlike what was done in the case of the waterfront project and also the Skinner Park development, both of which benefited from widespread consultation.”

He claimed this project received Cabinet approval in September and is being constructed with undue haste.

Maharaj said, “In light of the foregoing, this group calls for an immediate halt to this proposed development by the HDC and a rescinding of the decisions taken by Cabinet.”

He added the group is “committed to an amicable resolution to this matter.”

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Speaker Bridgid Annisette-George examines the art on display at the launch of the Red House Rotunda Art Gallery’s Healing Through Art display on Wednesday. – ROGER JACOB

SPEAKER Bridgid Annisette-George on Wednesday launched an exhibition by 77 visual artists in the Red House rotunda aimed at raising awareness of mental health and providing a stream of hope via creative expression, she said in her feature address to guests and exhibitors.

She said the arts – including visual art, music, dance and drama – can help in mental health healing but were not a panacea in place of other extensive works to be done.

Artiste Shalise Thomas and her mother Lisa Duprey a the launch of the Red House Rotunda Art Gallery’s Healing Through Art exhibit on Thursday. – ROGER JACOB

Annisette-George lamented that mental ill-health was often disparaged as “he mad” or “she mad.” Further, she said the covid19 pandemic had entailed restrictions on people’s movements and had added to their sense of fear, panic, and uncertainty, thereby severely impacting their mental health. She lamented widespread social stigma and ignorance over mental ill-health.

Annisette-George warned that changes in sleep patterns and appetite, plus impulsive decision-making, and the abuse of drugs and alcohol, plus thinking suicidal thoughts – tell-tale signs of mental ill heath – may go unnoticed. It may affect work and personal relationship, and can lead to an early death, she said.

The speaker offered remedies to mental ill-health as getting a work-home balance, exercise, creative pursuits and seeking professional help. She highlighted port-post-post-partum depression as an issue.

Newsday spoke to two artists. Mellisia Rattan-Kaim explained Life’s Blessings, her picture of part of a woman’s face, next to a lotus flower and a hummingbird, all portrayed in pastel colours.

Speaker Bridgid Annisette-George discusses a piece with artist Kevin McMayo at the launce of the Red House Rotunda Art Gallery’s Healing Through Art exhibit on Wednesday. McMayo’s piece is entitled How Can I Help My Brother. – ROGER JACOB

She said the woman was holding her arm across her face to block her eyes as a way of hiding her vulnerability. She said she was the model.

The lotus represented enlightenment, while the hummingbird offered hope. Rattan-Kaim said she was a self-taught artists who had started doing art seriously only two years ago.

Marika Cameron, 17, explained her picture, Fragments of a Whole, several faces intertwined in a pattern.

Artist Marika Cameron with her piece entitled Fragments of a Whole at the Red House’s Rotunda Art Gallery on Wednesday. – ROGER JACOB

“This is a visual representation of someone overcoming so many different emotions and having so many personalities, even though it still amounts to one whole – one body, one soul, one mind.

“It doesn’t make them less of a person simply because the are experiencing so many emotions, so many feelings and so many different personalities.”

Cameron said she had done art since primary school but had stepped in up in secondary school.

“It’s always been an outlet. When it becomes a chore, it s no longer a creative expression.”

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