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T&T...$1m for 20 unusable wooden ladders
Call for probe into spending on TTFS equipment...


Heads must roll and there must be an immediate investigation into who purchased 20 unusable wooden ladders for the Trinidad and Tobago Fire Service (TTFS) for a whopping $1 million.The ladders are now parked up behind the Fire Service headquarters because they cannot be mounted on fire trucks, Leo Ramkissoon, president of the Fire Services Association, told the Sunday Express yesterday.

Businessman and social activist Inshan Ishmael filed a Freedom of Information Request in February this year, asking the TTFS to provide a breakdown of the cost and suppliers for all firefighting equipment bought for fire stations and firefighting personnel for the period January 2015 to April 2023.By letter dated September 17, 2013, a breakdown of the monies spent was provided to him, but not the suppliers.

The Sunday Express obtained a copy of the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) document which stated, among other things, that 20 wooden ladders were purchased for $999,000.Those ladders were never used and are said to be lying low behind the TTFS headquarters in an open space.“We were very disappointed with the fact that these ladders made its way into the Fire Service and cannot be used because they cannot be mounted on most fire trucks so they can’t get to the scene,” he said.
Included in the expenditure was some $62.6 million for repairs of TTFS vehicles and $13 million on tyres.

A $600m campus, but where are the students?
12 years later, UWI Debe Campus remains empty


TWELVE years have passed since the project to build The University of the West Indies’ (The UWI) campus in Debe was first launched, with a promise to decentralise tertiary education for thousands of students from South Trinidad.A whopping $600 million has been spent to date, but The UWI’s Penal-Debe Campus sits empty, never opened to the university’s students.

It was, however, used once as a quarantine site during the uncertain times of the Covid-19 pandemic when its dormitories were temporarily converted to a ­step-down facility.Last Friday the Sunday Express reached out to Education Minister Dr Nyan Gadsby-Dolly and the ministry’s corporate communication channels to ask whether there was any information on the status of the campus being made a part of its global medical campus initiative.

We also asked if the ministry intended to respond to concerns over the lengthy delay in its opening.
As of yesterday there was no response.

$55m spent on unoccupied DPP office...

Rowley said the Government did the best the Government could do, which was to find executive office for the DPP’s office. “That office was the executive headquarters of a bank. So you could imagine the level of comfort that exists there.

“The Government agreed to pay the high rental for that property... ’cause high-class executive office in Port of Spain is not cheap. We entered into a three-year contract. We had to outfit it to suit the department that was going in there. We did all that.

“Then we heard that there were security issues. We spend money strengthening the security—bulletproof in there, this and that. We did all of that. And at the end of the day after we spent $55 million, a public servant could decide, I am not going in there.

No word from fire chief on ladders

Chief Fire Officer Arnold Bristow has promised to make a statement on the controversial purchase of 20 wooden ladders for the Trinidad and Tobago Fire Service which are unusable.
This was indicated to the Express yesterday by Divisional Fire Officer in charge of Public Relations Welfare and Research, Dexter Hodge.

On Sunday when the Express contacted Bristow he advised that the newspaper should call him at 9 a.m. yesterday when he would provide all the details on this matter.
However, when the Express called at this time there was no answer.
Just after 11 a.m. Bristow told the Express via phone to contact Hodge who will provide the information.
Hodge called the Express at 5.15 p.m. after numerous calls to his cellphone in vain. There was also no further response from Bristow.

Hey Googley

You want to buy them for Guyana ?
Put them to climb the sea wall...

In reply to sgtdjones

Sell them to the Venezuelans as they might need it when the try to scale our sea wall!

In reply to googley

Madero has no money . He believes in a Christian God, thats invisible as is heaven and hell

He needs a dumb rass preacher that has faith in scriptures like Jimmy Jones in Guyana.