Trinidad & Tobago (If Yuh Int'rested)
Anthony Maillard
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Fashioning A Regional Manufacturing Sector
Since the people of this southern Caribbean state began playing music on
discarded steel pans almost 60 years ago, making the instrument has been an
arduous task of heating, pounding, bending and knocking, requiring as much
as three days to fashion the perfect pan.
But now the traditional pan tuners territory has been invaded by a local
manufacturing company which says its spin-formed steel pan sounds as good
as, if not better than the manually-formed one and takes only 20 minutes to
make.
ÒIt has exactly the same features as the manually-formed pan, sounds as
good as, if not better and takes just 20 minutes to make,Ó says Dave
Bhajan, managing director of Metal Industries Company (MIC), a joint
venture between the government here, the U.N. Development Program (UNDP),
and several private sector companies.
The new pans were developed in 1990 and several have been placed on the
local market, but not every pan tuner is as happy with them as is Bhajan.
ÒI am not sold on it at all,Ó says Fitzroy Henry, pan tuner, Òyou still
have to hammer it out to get the correct sound.Ó
In addition to developing an easier way to make the steel pan, MIC has been
saving local manufacturers valuable foreign exchange. In September the
company handed over a condenser, with a cooling capacity of 100 tons to a
local soft drinks bottler. Normally condensers are imported at considerable
cost.
The company, according to Bhajan, was set up to create the engineering base
necessary for the development of a manufacturing sector, not only here but
in the Caribbean. To fulfill this task the company has trained over 150
craftsmen, technicians and engineers since it was set up 17 years ago.
Training has expanded to other territories in the region namely Guyana,
Dominica and Barbados and will encompass St. Lucia and Antigua as well, as
of next year. Trainees also have come from as far as Ethiopia and Tanzania.
With the region short on skilled personnel for the manufacturing sector,
Bhajan says, MIC graduates are snapped up quickly, some even before they
graduate. To try to meet the growing demand for such skilled technicians,
MIC has added an evening program to its full time training project and runs
several short courses during the year some in conjunction with the regional
University of the West Indies and the Caribbean Development Bank.
The company, staffed by its own trainees, also works with small
entrepreneurs giving them free consulting services. A small businessman who
has an idea for manufacturing a certain metal or plastic product can have
this product designed and developed at the MIC factory, located in this
capital city.
ÒThis approach eliminates the large initial investment in machinery and
factory space normally required when starting up a new business and reduces
the risk of failure and serious loss ... and as the market develops and the
small man has enough capital, he can then venture out on his own,Ó said
Bhajan.
This type of seeding operation, the company director said, has launched
successfully several new products ranging from roofing sheets and
automobile battery clamps to plastic hair brushes and champagne glasses.
ÒWe are in the middle level of the technology here ... you can get higher
quality from abroad but much more expensive. you can also get cheaper, but
lower quality from countries like Taiwan, the Philippines and India, he
added.
ÒThe project has gone very positive in spite of everyday problems,Ó says
Noys Lewis-Rivas, assistant program officer at the local UNDP office. ÒMIC
is ready to fly with proper wings.Ó
But it is still being assisted by the development funding agencies to
transform the training centre into a truly regional facility.
In addition, MIC contributes to its own upkeep by selling products it
develops and manufactures both locally and regionally. it sells about 15
percent of its products to the Caribbean and another five percent in the
United States.
POS Dec. 28 - ©IPS
Chagas Disease Found
A rare disease carried by a forest bug found primarily in South American
countries has surfaced in humans in Trinidad and Tobago. According to
government health officials, 25 of 40 persons tested in south Trinidad
within the last year were found to be suffering from Chagas disease.
Carried by the assassin bug (trypanosome cruzi) which feeds on the blood of
wild animals, Chagas disease has no known cure. ÒIt causes swelling of the
feet and eyelids and may eventually result in cardiac failure. The first
symptom is shortness of breath,Ó said Dr. Helen Marceau, medical chief of
staff at the San Fernando hospital. Those affected came from the high risk
groupings of Trinidadians who either hunt regularly in the forested areas
or who live close to forests.
Thirty-five percent of this southern Caribbean island is covered in forests
and an estimated 15 percent of the population live close to these areas. In
addition each year between October and February, some 6,000 registered
hunters comb the forests for wildlife particularly the armadillo, agouti
and lappe. The meat of these animals are valued here as delicacies. These
animals however, are the hosts for the assassin bug. According to zoologist
Julien Kenny, the majority of the 1.3 million people here are not at risk
even if they eat the meat of wild animals, because cooking kills the
parasite. For 20 years doctors here have suspected that the disease had
infected members of the population but until this past year no conclusive
proof existed, Marceau said. Trinidad and Tobago is vulnerable to the
disease because of its proximity to the South American continent (Venezuela
is only 19 miles off the countryÕs southern shores) and because the ecology
of the twin-island republic is much the same as that of the continent.
©IPS
One Year Old Government Losing Support
The Patrick Manning administration here is rapidly losing public support as
accusations mount that the government, in power for just over one year, has
no intention of keeping its election promises.
Elected in December 1991 on a platform of ÔÕwe care about peopleÕÕ, the
Manning government, Trinidadians say, has done nothing to show that it has
the publicÕs welfare in mind.
Specifically Trinidadians point to rising unemployment, increasing
inflation rates, the failure to do a wholesale lowering of the 15 percent
value added tax (VAT) and a hike in the incidence of crime as proof that
the PeopleÕs National Movement (PNM) regime has abandoned its election
promises.
At the end of 1991 when the PNM took office, the unemployment rate was 19
percent, according to official figures. By the end of 1992 it had inched up
to 22.5 percent. The inflation rate is now seven percent, complain
Trinidadians, and the PNM has only removed the VAT on Ôover the counter
drugs.Õ ÔÕThey are putting pressure on the small man. Taxes and more taxes,
the cost of living is only going up and up. Money is hard to come by and we
are struggling to provide for our families,ÕÕ says taxi driver Mike Graves.
In addition, the government has opened itself to charges of extravagance,
particularly at a time when it is asking the population to show restraint.
ÔÕThe PNM is fixing up its members while the masses are suffering,ÕÕ says
Arjoon Singh a cane cutter.
In November works minister Colm Imbert told parliament that the Prime
MinisterÕs residence had been renovated and five refrigerators, costing
almost $35,000US were bought for the home. He also said that a $7,000US
gymnasium has been built on the premises.
Last month parliament approved legislation to raise the salaries of the
Prime Minister, the President, Members of Parliaments, Judges and top Civil
Servants much to the dismay of the opposition and the trade unions here.
Trade unions are already unhappy with the governmentÕs plan to divest 83
companies. ÔÕWe have fought long and hard to ensure that the commanding
heights of the economy stay in the hands of Trinidadians. We cannot accept
the selling out of the enterprises,ÕÕ Errol Mcleod, head of the militant
oil field workers said.
The manufacturing sector too is screaming over trade liberalization
initiatives which it says will cost the country 14,000 jobs and wipe out
the industry.
According to Neil Poontip, president of the Trinidad and Tobago
manufacturing association the government is ignoring existing investment
and sending the wrong signals to attract new investors.
But the government believes its their opponents like the trade unions that
will do the greatest harm to future investments. Manning has already asked
the unions not to foment industrial unrest lest it send the wrong signals
overseas. In a recent address to the nation Manning said his government has
done reasonably well over the past 12 months, an opinion held by the south
Trinidad Chamber of Commerce.
So far the government has been concentrating on halting the flow of drugs
through the country. Reorganizing the police force, implicated in the
narcotics trade has been a priority. BritainÕs Scotland Yard detectives are
here investigating charges that top police officers are part of a drug
smuggling ring operating within the country and another British team has
already turned over recommendations on how to reorder the force. In
addition, the PNM has announced that this year it is tackling chronic
unemployment by increasing from 17 to 21, the number of weeks set aside for
government projects. ÒThere is light at the end of the tunnel,ÕÕ says
foreign minister Ralph Maraj. ÔÕWe have gone through some pretty trying
times but we feel that towards the middle of 1994 ... as the debt servicing
obligations begin to be reduced ... we will be moving to greater momentum
and growth.ÕÕ
©IPS
Anthony Maillard