THE EDITOR:
THE following is a short excerpt from a book entitled, Fighting Bribery, published by the International Chamber of Commerce in April 1999.

“When it comes to distinguishing between bribes and gifts, the perceptions of the donor and recipient often differ.

“A recipient may believe that what he is receiving is a gift because it in no way binds him to the donor.

“This applies particularly where he receives a benefit rather than cash.

“The donor’s intentions, however, might be very different.

“A gift may become a bribe if it is not declared.

“However, there are some useful distinguishing features:

“Bribes have to be made in secret as they are neither legally nor morally acceptable.

“Gifts are generally made openly as a gesture of goodwill or affection.

“Bribes are often made indirectly through a third party.

“Gifts are usually made directly.

“A bribe creates an obligation on the recipient who then becomes subordinate to the donor and who is encouraged to alter his or her behaviour in some way.

“A gift comes with no such conditions and is intended to identify the donor with the recipient to seal a relationship or friendship.”

The book also recommends that corporations place a maximum value on an acceptable gift.

The International Chamber of Commerce supports the OECD Convention on Combating Bribery.

The OECD comprises a group of 30 member countries and has active relationships with some 70 countries.

To conclude, citizens of TnT should recall the statement attributed to Euripides, “They say the Gods themselves are moved by gifts”.

THE EDITOR:
PLEASE allow me some space in your newspaper to highlight some issues now affecting local staff at British Gas Trinidad (BG), which would be of interest to the Trinidad and Tobago public and indeed the relevant authorities.

Favours to top officials for masking intolerable industrial relations practices and for downright disregard for goverment’s local content policy are the order of the day at BG.

Staff at this multinational company has been under stress by the prolonged investigations in the disposal of old furniture and used motor vehicles, once used by expatriates.

A multinational firm of auditors based in St. Clair is being paid hundreds of thousands of dollars to hound down local staff and damage professional reputations in the process.

In addition, information is that a minister’s daughter has landed a cushy procurement job in the UK and that she is being repatriated back to Trinidad to understudy the current Procurement Manager, John Ferguson, an expatriate, who is due to leave sometime in July this year.

Disgruntled staff at St. Clair is unhappy with this move, since there are senior procurement personnel with more experience in the industry who are being overlooked in favour of the minister’s daughter.

Word out of BG’s local office is that the former procurement manager, who is Trinidadian, was unceremoniously removed two years ago in favour of an expatriate.

In another matter, senior local managers with distinguished careers in their respective fields have all been replaced by foreigners in a most humiliating fashion.

Aleen Hosein, a well-respected and highly-experienced oil and gas professional, was removed as vice-president and placed in the organisational dog house as manager in the public relations department; he was replaced by an expatriate.

Glenn Wilson, a senior HR professional in this country was demoted from the position of VP HR to HR Manager. Keith Eddy was removed as VP Engineering to the position of Project Manager, reporting to an expat.

Staff at BG see these moves as a slap in the face to local talent and the natural aspiration of the people of TnT to develop this talent for the future development of this country.

A recent town hall meeting called by BG’s president Craig McKenzie led to a question being raised as to why a senior local manager was sent to the UK to make way for one of McKenzie’s colleagues to pick up a vice-president position, which should otherwise be given to the local.

Word is that McKenzie’s colleague has no oil and gas experience, while the local manager has vast experience in the LNG business and trained several expats who were sent here specifically for that purpose and now work at BG’s other internatonal locations.

The local manager in question is now functioning at a lower level somewhere in the UK.

Staff at BG views this move as a blatant slap in the face of government’s desire for locals to develop and assume senior positions in the industry and a move by BG to implement a modern version of colonialism.

The talk is that one staff member who raised this matter at the town meeting was deemed to be well on his way to “talking himself out of a job”.

The staff at BG is anxiously awaiting the outcome of an industrial relations matter now at the Ministry of Labour.

The matter concerns action initiated by the Oilfields Workers’ Trade Union (OWTU) on behalf of employees who were victims of BG’s ill-conceived industrial relations practices.

The staff believes that the outcome would influence future industrial relations practices at the company.

The local staff at BG is quietly talking about recent developments concerning foreign project staff.

Expatriates that were brought into Trinidad to manage major projects at BG were mainly abysmal failures.

The talk in St. Clair is that these so-called experts ran these projects way over their budgets and the time schedules all fell way behind original forecasts.

Word in the local industry is the BG’s track record in delivering projects can only be challenged by the State’s record in delivering the annual PSIP.

Odds are now on as to McKenzie’s continued tenure at BG Trinidad beyond 2006.

Meanwhile, there is a cry emanating from the St. Clair offices of BG for the relevant authorities to pay close attention to the operations and practices of the company.

The local staff is concerned by the company’s manipulation of the local regulations and the courting of the ruling politicians to turn a blind eye, while BG humiliate and demoralise its local employees.

There is a strong feeling that the national interest must be paramount and that the government is only paying lip service to the importance of developing indigenous human resource and industry capability.

Clearly, some accountability is required here since we are talking about the manner in which our natural resources and people are being exploited for the “long term benefit of our country”.

A word to the wise.

THE EDITOR:
I THANK you for allowing me to express an opinion on the continuing problems faced by the Cumana Anglican School.

I am an official of the Ministry of Education and a member of the Parent Teachers’ Association (PTA).

Recent events have convinced me that there is a definite plot to mash up, as the principal says, the Cumana Anglican School.

Since I work at the ministry, I know that two young ladies were interviewed to fill vacancies at this school.

However, I and others were shocked when underhand moves were made by a supervisor and an officer of the Anglican Board that resulted in only one of the vacancies being filled, while the other young lady, who is related to a supervisor, was sent to the Grande Riviere Anglican School, where her aunt works as the acting principal.

To make matters worse, this school does not need a teacher now as there are less than 40 children enrolled there.

In the meantime, the principal at Cumana Anglican School still has to teach a class everyday.

I am very sorry for the Cumana school, but somebody is really trying to mash it up.

THE EDITOR:
A PICTURE carried in the Press of a Hindu devotee taking a bath in the River Ganges, India, stated that the site is one of Hinduism’s most important centres.

It is the confluence of the rivers Ganges, Yamuna and the mythical Saraswathi.

We wish to correct the issue of the “mythical Saraswathi”, which is annually repeated in the Press whenever this pilgrimage in India is reported. What the picture shows is a popular ancient Hindu tradition.

The Sarasvati River does not currently exists, so it is deemed “mythical”.

Recent research by archaeologists has revealed that the Sarasvati River did, in fact, exist but due to climate changes it is now a small river.

The earliest civilisation developed along the banks of this river and then spread to other area such as along the Indus River.

Bhagwan Singh in a Vedic Harrapans wrote that “literary evidence is emphatic that the Vedic civilisation evolved and developed along the Sarasvati Valley.

After having matured, it expanded over a large area and urban centres on the Sarasvati shifted to the bank of the Indus and its tributaries as the Sarasvati gradually became more unpredictable and less navigable due to siltation and formation of marchlands in its course.”

S.R. Rao in his Dawn and Devolution of Harrapan Civilisation stated that “the fast accumulating evidence from the fresh excavations of Indus civilisation suggests that it is not invasions but natural calamity and deteriorating ecological conditions contributed to decay of the harrapan towns and cities”.

N. S. Rajaram and David Prawley in their Vedic Aryans and The Origins of Civilisations stated that the “Rig Veda reflects a maritime culture centred on the Sarasvati River in India as its ancient homeland”.

Clearly, tradition continues even though reality has changed in terms of the changes with the Sarasvati River.

A final point is that this ancient history is directly linked to that of Trinidad with the Indian-Trinidad presence since May 30, 1945.

Many people in the country in fact, carry the name “Sarasvati”.