NEWS
Appeal Court reserves ruling on future of LifeSport lawsuit
Two Appeal Court judges have reserved their ruling on an appeal by the Sport Company of TT (SporTT) of the striking out its claim of negligence against its former CEO and 13 ex-board members arising from the failed LifeSport programme. On Tuesday, Justices of Appeal Peter Rajkumar and Ronnie Boodoosingh reserved their decision after hearing from attorneys from SporTT and the 14. In November, last year, Justice Ricky Rahim struck out the company’s claim because “it could not be sustained in the absence of proof of actual loss or damage,” which he said was a crucial element of the tort of negligence. Read more here
Stakeholders believe SEA pupils will do better this year
Education stakeholders are optimistic about the chances of success for the 18,889 pupils (9,591 males and 9,289 feamles) registered to sit today’s Secondary Entrance Assessment (SEA) exam. This is because stakeholders say they are the first batch pupils who were able to benefit from a full academic year of face-to-face classes since the COVID-19 pandemic began in 2020. National Primary Schools’ Principal Association president Carlene Hayes said yesterday that return to in-person classes allowed teachers a better opportunity to address any learning loss from the pupils’ time spent online during the suspension of in-person classes at the height of the pandemic. “Because of this, we are a bit more optimistic and a bit more confident that these children would have been able to be prepared more than last year’s students for the examination. The gaps were real in terms of online schooling was not beneficial to our students,” Hayes said. Read more here
POLITICS
Labour Minister: Ex-Digicel workers can’t challenge retrenchment
Minister of Labour Stephen Mc Clashie said the 126 retrenched Digicel workers cannot challenge their termination as the process was done in accordance with labour laws. “They can’t challenge it once it was done according to the law,” Mc Clashie told Newsday in a phone conversation. “There is nothing that they could do because there is no work to go back to.” Digicel in a press release said the workers will be retrenched as the company is transitioning its TT Consumer Contact Centre to a Centre of Excellence in Jamaica. The workers were retrenched as of Monday. Read more here
InvestTT offers hope for retrenched Digicel workers—Minister
Digicel T&T Ltd has made efforts to get the 126 employees who will be retrenched on May 10 introduced to Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) agents, or businesses that already exist in T&T and are expanding, says Trade Minister Paula Gopee-Scoon. Gopee-Scoon, acting as Government Senate leader, made the comment in response to UNC Senator Wade Mark’s query, following Digicel’s decision to retrench workers, whether that decision was done in accordance with the Retrenchment and Severance Benefits Act (RSBA). Gopee-Scoon said by letter dated March 27, 2023, Digicel’s chief executive officer Abraham Smith informed the Labour Minister of the company’s decision to retrench 126 employees as they had become “surplus to its requirements.” Read more here
BUSINESS
Sagicor income declines 13%
Sagicor Financial Company (SFC), yesterday reported net income to shareholders of US$115.6 million for the financial year ended December 31, 2022. That was 13 per cent less than the US$133.2 million the Barbados-headquartered, Toronto Stock Exchange-listed financial services company reported in 2021. Sagicor Financial reported revenue of US$2.54 billion in its 2022 financial year, which was an 8 per cent increase over the US$2.35 billion the company generated in 2021. The company recorded earnings per share of US$0.809 per share. It will pay a dividend of US$0.05625 per common share on April 27, 2023, to shareholders of record at the close of business on April 4, 2023. The company’s annualised dividend is US$0.225. Read more here
Imbert vows to continue spending on capital projects
The government will not roll back spending on its capital projects even if energy prices remain lower than expected and if it has to run a higher than anticipated budget deficit. Finance Minister Colm Imbert told a news conference on Monday that capital expenditure is crucial to growing the economy and there will not be any reduction in expenditure in 2023. “So even if we have to increase the deficit to two billion, three billion maybe, because that is just an estimate by the IMF, and it is extremely conservative, they are assuming the worst, in terms of oil and gas prices and production and so on…..so we would not cut back on expenditure willy nilly, we will try to maintain the expenditure momentum even if we have to have a higher deficit than expected.” A confident Imbert told the media conference. Read more here
REGIONAL
Guyana, UK record over £1B in trade in 2022
Guyana and the United Kingdom (UK), on Tuesday, advanced efforts to solidify their economic partnership with the launch of the British Chamber of Commerce Guyana (BritCham Guyana) to facilitate and promote trade and investments between the two countries. Chairman of BritCham, Faizal Khan, at the launch, said that in 2022, for the first time in history, Guyana and the UK surpassed £1 billion and he is confident that this number will continue to grow. “We are very confident those figures will only continue to grow and BritCham will do everything we can to try and continue to facilitate that,” he said. Read more here
INTERNATIONAL
Bali: Russian man to be deported for posing naked on sacred Mount Agung
A Russian man is to be deported from Indonesia for stripping off his clothes atop a sacred mountain in Bali. A photo of the man posing with his pants around his ankles on Mount Agung went viral last week. The man, identified only as Yuri, has apologised but will be barred from re-entering Indonesia for at least six months. Bali has recently increased efforts to crack down on badly-behaved foreign tourists. Mount Agung, the highest point on the island, is believed by Hindus to be the home of the gods. A local official said there was "no excuse" for his behaviour. "He violated norms and showed no respect for our culture," Bali Law and Human Rights Office head Anggiat Napitupulu told The Jakarta Post. Read more here
29th March 2023