Moontown

THE 63-year-old woman lies in bed inside her Tivoli Gardens home clutching a radio, listening intently to each news bulletin as though her life depends on it.

A worried frown creases her forehead. She appears restless. Pauline ‘Patsy’ Halliburton, mother of Christopher ‘Dudus’ Coke, is terrified that she will never “see” her son alive again.

Coke, who is wanted on gun and drug charges in the United States, has been on the run since May 17 when a warrant was issued for his arrest. Less than a week later, security forces traded bullets with gunmen in his Tivoli Gardens community, and when the smoke cleared 73 civilians and a soldier lay dead. Coke, who was reported to have been in Tivoli at the start of the May 24 incursion, escaped, the police said.

Now Halliburton, who is diabetic and blind, is hungry for news of her son. Her frustration is compounded by the fact that she is somewhat restricted in her movement as a result of an amputated leg caused by the disease.

“The last few weeks have been the worst in my life,” she told the Sunday Observer last Wednesday.

“The last time ah see mi son and talk to him was Mother’s Day (May 9). Him even send mi present come; him never miss a Mother’s Day,” Halliburton said.

Asked if she was in contact with Coke or if she had asked him to turn himself in, Halliburton answered: “Mi afraid of what the foreign people them might do.” Her reference was to the US extradition request. She, however, declined to state whether she was in contact with Coke.

During the interview, a family member, who did not wish to be named, adjusted Halliburton’s pillow, explaining that she had suffered a “slight stroke” shortly after the Tivoli incursion.

“Her health is failing,” the family member said.

But Halliburton boldly interjected that despite her condition, her “strong faith in God” would keep her.

“I’m strong, if not for myself but for my son.”

“Every night ah lay in my bed with me radio just praying and hoping that my son will be safe,” she continued, adding that it has been a while since she had a good night’s sleep.

In her heyday, Halliburton worked as a vendor, selling goods in downtown Kingston and supporting her three children — two boys and one girl. She also used the opportunity presented by the interview to dismiss rumours that Coke was the adopted son of former Tivoli Gardens ‘don’, Lester Lloyd Coke, otherwise called ‘Jim Brown’.

“Him a nuh no adopted son; a just people love to talk,” Halliburton told the Sunday Observer. In fact, she said one of Dudus’s sons was the spitting image of his late grandfather.

Tivoli residents have also scoffed at the suggestion that Coke was adopted, but the police and media reports have said otherwise.

As Halliburton spoke, soldiers moved around outside her house searching for clues to Coke’s whereabouts.

The lawmen had initially placed a US$20,000 bounty on Coke’s head, but increased that figure to J$5 million on Friday.

But the Coke the authorities say they are searching for is a far cry from the one described by his mother last week.

She described Coke as a quiet and caring person.

“Him hardly talk, but him care for people and try to help them. When him deh here, me nuh wanting a nothing,” said Halliburton, who said her son also covered the cost of all her medication.

She said not only was her son innocent, but that she felt he was a hero.

She likened Coke’s predicament to that of past who in their lifetime were regarded as outlaws by authorities, but who were later absolved by history.

“All a what dem a say is lie dem telling, and that is why I am calling on the authorities to carry out a deeper investigation in my son’s case,” Halliburton said.

Asked what her greatest wish was, she said, “Me just wish all of this problem would go away and that them would just leave him alone”.

“My son is a hero. A pure good things him do for people why them love him,” continued Halliburton, fighting hard to hold back tears.

She said he was also a disciplinarian.

“One of my clearest memory of this was when there was a strike of teachers some years ago and some people came out to protest, and him come around and say I must come off of the road,” she told the Sunday Observer.

Halliburton said Coke, at the time, also defended teachers, saying they should get greater recognition for the job they did.

She added that she felt that a number of persons were now trying to use her son by blaming him for problems that were not of his making.

But despite her call for her son to be left alone, the police say they have stepped up their operations to apprehend him.

In fact, last week they placed several areas across the island under curfew to restrict the movement of criminals who may be associated with the reputed community leader.

Since Coke fled Tivoli, police say, several searches in the community and surrounding areas have resulted in the seizure of more than 70 guns and thousands of assorted rounds of ammunition.

A senior member of the Diaspora Advisory Board has expressed displeasure at the Government’s handling of the extradition request for Christopher ‘Dudus’ Coke and has likened public acceptance of the prime minister’s apology for the imbroglio to a battered wife who keeps on returning to her abuser after a few promises.

Chairman of the Jamaica Diaspora US North East Region, Patrick Beckford, also said that Prime Minister Bruce Golding’s eventual confession about his role in the Manatt, Phelps & Phillips affair suggested that the country lacked effective leadership.

“The only thing I can equate it to is that Jamaica is like a battered wife; the man a beat you but every week him come and him carry $5 and we eat and we settle and we smile,” Beckford told reporters and editors at the inaugural Observer Press Club last Thursday at the newspaper’s Beechwood Avenue headquarters.

After first denying in March that the Government had contracted US law firm Manatt, Phelps & Phillips to lobby the United States on treaty matters, Golding admitted in Parliament on May 11 that he had sanctioned the approach to Manatt, but said he did so in his capacity as leader of the ruling Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) and that it was the party and not the Government that entered into a deal with the law firm.

But his confession triggered widespread calls for his resignation, with the Opposition People’s National Party (PNP) pointing out that he had lied to the Parliament and people of Jamaica, and that the law firm was retained to try to get the US Government to drop its extradition request for Coke, a known supporter of the JLP, and who the Americans have accused of trafficking in guns and drugs.

As the calls for his resignation increased, Golding offered his resignation to the JLP, but it was rejected and, in a May 16 address to the nation he apologised. He also informed the country that, after stalling for nine months, the Government would start the extradition proceedings.

Last Thursday, at the Observer Press Club, executive chairman for the UK-based Facilitators For a Better Jamaica Sylbourne Sydial said that politicians ought to resign whenever situations like this arise.

“We stayed away from asking the prime minister to resign because I didn’t vote for him; many of us didn’t vote,” he said of his group, before adding, “If it existed in England the letter would have already been signed and sealed.”

The views expressed by Sydial and Beckford were endorsed by Future Leaders Advisory Board member David Mullings, who also said he was convinced that most Jamaicans do not genuinely want change.

“My generation feels that Jamaicans themselves do not want change, that’s the fundamental problem, because they continue to vote along party lines, and regardless of what happens they vote PNP or JLP and that, first of all, is a fundamental problem,” said Mullings.

“Until we get up and admit that a person has links with criminals and we will not vote for him, we are not going to have any change. We know the names of the people; why are we pretending that they are not connected to crime?” he asked.

Mullings said many young people had been banking on Golding to create that change when he left the National Democratic Movement to return to the JLP as he had preached the politics of change, highlighting the need for things like constitutional reform.

As a result of the promise of change, Mullings said many persons had voted for Golding. Now they are disappointed, he said, and that disappointment has been made worse by the fact that they see no better in the current leadership of the PNP.

But even as Mullings noted the involvement of some politicians in corrupt activities, he commended others such as former parliamentarian Heather Robinson, who denounced it openly.

“She is the greatest politician Jamaica has never had, because she was in there for a very short time and she was not willing to stand up for the guns,” he said, as he shared his desire to see more politicians like her coming forward to run for office.

Clovis Metcalfe, managing director of FirstCaribbean Jamaica, is seen here in a September 2009 Gleaner photo at the handover of a motorcycle to the police by the Private Sector Organisation of Jamaica.- File

Avia Collinder, Business Writer

Interest rates on motor-vehicle loans have fallen to what finance sector insiders are describing as a 15-year low, but consumers are not exactly beating a path to the doors of local lenders.

For some financial institutions, car loans represent at least 25 per cent of their retail portfolio.

A Sunday Business survey of rates among some credit unions and banks carried out in the second week of June showed charges being between 14 per cent and 19.95 per cent, depending on the age of the vehicle.

lowest rate

The lowest rate was recorded at the UWI (Mona) and Community Co-operative Credit Union, where 14 per cent was quoted on vehicles up to eight years old.

The Bank of Nova Scotia Jamaica is offering 95 per cent financing on new vehicles, with 84 months to repay at a 16.95 per cent rate, down from 19.25 per cent quoted back in October 2009.

Freebies attached to car loans are now the order of the day among financial houses seeking to outdo each other in a climate of subdued consumer demand for this type of credit.

Among the giveaways are cash for petrol and financing for a vehicle-tracking system.

C&WJ Co-operative Credit Union Limited, the Cable and Wireless affiliate, has advertised car loans starting at 16.5 per cent per annum, with free loan-insurance protection of up to $1 million.

“I don’t believe that

But market waiting for rates to go lower this has happened for more than 15 years,” Clovis Metcalfe, managing director of FirstCaribbean Inter-national Bank Jamaica said this week.

He was referring to the price of the loans.

“In 1992-1993, our car-loan rate was approximately 21 per cent,” he said.

FirstCaribbean’s car loans start at 16.99 per cent on the reducing balance, 11 percentage points down from the 28 per cent that obtained a year ago.

But auto-loan subscriptions have not improved with the loan-rate drop.

“The take-up was, in fact, better in the prior year (2009) when measured by loan growth,” Metcalfe said.

Since October last year, the bank has been among several offering inducement deals, including a refinancing loan for motor vehicles no older than two years, short-term insurance financing, and vehicle licensing.

The skittishness among borrowers is being attributed in part to the expectation of a further lowering of interest rates. In response to this, some lenders are promising that any further rate declines will be passed on to those who borrow now.

“The credit union’s loan agreement speaks to a variable rate of interest,” noted Janyce Robinson, general manager for credit and administration at Churches Co-operative Credit Union.

rates of interest

Car loans there now range from 16.95 per cent to 19.95 per cent, at least seven percentage points on average below June 2009 rates of 22-30 per cent.

But at Churches, too, take-up is reportedly flat.

In the first quarter of 2010, the credit union disbursed J$105 million in approved car loans, down from $109 million in first three months of 2009.

The credit union is hoping that this performance will improve, and has budgeted 34.2 per cent of its 2010 personal loan portfolio for car loans.

This allocation is up from the 30.2 per cent disbursed in 2009 and 31.9 per cent in 2008.

But loan rates apart, reduced spending power and higher car prices are affecting the banks’ car loan rate push.

President of the Automobile Dealers Association, Kent LaCroix, noted that most cars are purchased in US currency from Japan.

LaCroix said that with the Japanese yen having been very strong, averaging 90 to US$1, and the Jamaican Government’s withdrawal of stimulus incentives for the local auto industry in March, motor-vehicle prices are likely to rise by as much as 15 per cent.

Auto sales in the first quarter of 2010 were eight per cent less than in the same period last year, LaCroix said.

FirstCaribbean, in the meantime, is suggesting that it is prudent for lenders to remain flexible as market conditions change.

“It is in every bank’s interest to retain customers by making timely adjustments to the pricing of their variable-rate products, especially as market prices themselves reduce,” said Metcalfe.

avia.collinder@gleanerjm.com

Glenford Smith, Career Writer, email: glenfordsmith@yahoo.com

Improving one’s educational qualification is a proven strategy for getting promoted at work. Here’s another great tactic, make lateral moves.

In other words, master the art of moving around in order to move up in your career. Here’s how this method works.

The central idea in making lateral moves is to gain valuable experience and knowledge in the important areas of your company, or industry, to increase your all-round competency and to make strategic alliances in the process.

This is in contrast to focusing only on improving your competency in your area of specialisation.

Let’s say you work as an administrative assistant to a production director in a manufacturing company. Rather than closing off yourself in a cocoon where you only handle correspondence, scheduling, and follow-up activities, you also expand your interest to understand other aspects of the business.

Create or recognise opportunities to learn about what happens in the customer-service division.

Initiate the process where you can work in another department for a few weeks every now and again.

Use your downtimes to study what others are doing in accounts, human resources, engineering and sales and marketing.

If an opportunity comes up to act in another division, jump at it even if you won’t get a salary increase - it’s the experience that will count.

Also, become a strategic volunteer. Offer to help or serve on projects that will expand your knowledge and increase your all-round abilities.

Volunteering might require some sacrifice in terms of time, but make a strategic decision based upon the potential long-term benefit.

Another thing, not everything should be about money. Many people underestimate the value of doing voluntary work. They insist that they won’t make anyone ‘exploit’ or ‘use’ them. They fail to realise that by giving of themselves they are in fact getting paid-in experience, knowledge and in building a reputation for selflessness.

To master the art of lateral moves, you must first master your core competency.

Be among the best at what your main responsibility is. Don’t try to be an expert in everything, you just want to broaden your development while making important connections with different mentors and associates. This approach may not be for everyone. But it will be of great value for people who are serious about advancing their careers, people who really love what they do, and who are committed to continuous learning.

Myrtle Porter, president of commercial operations at Genentech in the United States, once gave this bit of advice:

“Don’t minimise the importance of lateral moves and broad development. I did a number of lateral moves in my career, and not only did it not hurt me, it actually helped tremendously. I feel like I’ve got a good operational grounding, most aspects of our business. At some point in my 25 years of working, I’ve touched very closely or led most of the functions we have here in the organisation. That’s been exceptionally valuable.”

Glenford Smith is a motivational speaker and personal achievement strategist. glenfordsmith@yahoo.com. (Jamaica Gleaner)

Francis

At 39 years old, freelance writer and poet Duane Francis has had ample opportunities to become a father - some of them proffered all too eagerly.

But Francis is not yet a father, and that is a choice he has made.

“For the most part, the women’s approach was too direct and head-on. They bring it up when you just meet them. You just think OK, this is not conversation for the third date,” Francis told The Sunday Gleaner.

“I usually run like crazy,” he added while laughing.

So, while the three women he can remember, who told him early in their relationships, “I want somebody to get me pregnant”, went on to have children with other men, by choice Francis has not yet become a father.

“I always wanted what I grew up in for any child I should have. It’s not a case where father lives one place, mother lives one place. I was picky about who I got involved with.

“I kinda set a thing where, if I like a woman enough to marry her, she is the one I have kids with. And I have met only one who I liked enough to marry,” he said.

That ‘one’ is Marsha: the couple exchanged vows in October 2009.

expensive

Francis can remember being teased only once about not yet being a father.

A taxi driver asked, “how you no get no youth yet?”

“My reply was, ‘can I check you for money when I need to buy diapers and feeding?’,” Francis said.

The man started talking about how costly children were and how he would have done things differently in fathering his children.

Francis added: “I don’t know if it is because I don’t look my age, but people assume I have nuff more years. Not that I am old!”

The Sunday Gleaner asked if he plans to have children soon, and he was quick to respond, “Hell, yeah! Definitely! Give it a year or two. More like a year.”

Then, Francis thinks, Father’s Day will have even more personal meaning.

“I think it is one of those things, no matter how much in high esteem you hold it, when you actually experience it, the expectations can’t measure up.

“To see it from one side is one thing; to live it from the other as a father is a different thing. I will see it differently,” Francis said.

He has not had a deep longing for fatherhood, as “it was just something I knew, one day when the time was right, it would happen”.

Francis has wavered before and considered fathering a child, but, “as luck would have it, you see some major character flaws in the person and you say, ‘I don’t think so’”. (Jamaica Gleaner)

- M.C.

Golding

PRIME MINISTER Bruce Golding and his handlers have spent the past month trying to convince Jamaicans that he has the stomach to take the fight to criminals as part of efforts to get him back into everyone’s good books.

Under pressure, with mounting calls for his resignation, Golding and his team have pointed to his administration’s handling of the economy and the assault on crime as proof that he is the right man to lead the country through these troubled waters.

But a recent public opinion poll commissioned by The Gleaner and conducted by Bill Johnson has found that most Jamaicans, up to two months ago, did not believe Golding was the man for the job.

At a time when a coalition of civil society, private-sector entities, academia, the religious community and the opposition was calling for Golding’s head, Johnson took to the streets to ask if the Jamaica Labour Party leader deserved to be re-elected to lead the country.

In the islandwide poll conducted from April 24 to 25 and May 1, with a sample size of 1,008 and a plus or minus three per cent margin of error, Johnson found that 54 per cent of respondents wanted someone else in Jamaica House, while 31 per cent believed Golding was the man for the job.

This reflected a sharp decline (11 per cent) in the number of persons who want Golding as the captain of the ship when compared with the figure in August 2009.

The ranks of those who believe Golding should be replaced swelled by 12 per cent when compared with August 2009.

Golding, as expected, survived a no-confidence vote in Parliament, but calls for his resignation continue, although not as loudly or as concentrated as two months ago.

controversy

Then, Golding was in the middle of the controversy over the United States extradition request for west Kingston strongman Christopher ‘Dudus’ Coke and the muddle over who had contracted the American firm Manatt, Phelps & Phillips to negotiate with United States authorities.

Having signed the extradition request for Coke, the Golding-headed adminsitration embarked on a security forces-led ope-ration to retake the ‘Republic of Tivoli’ before moving on to other garrisons and gang leaders.

Now, cabinet ministers use every opportunity to talk up Golding’s commitment to tame the crime monster.

But one of his former colleagues believes it is only a matter of time before Golding will again find himself under pressure to resign.

“Golding is trapped by the tribal political system, and it is only because the people don’t want Portia Simpson Miller and the PNP, and the people still don’t accept that a third party is a viable option, why Golding has survived,” argued Mike Williams, general secretary of the National Democratic Movement.

Do you think Bruce Golding deserves to be re-elected prime minister?

2009 2010

Deserves 42 %31 %

Someone else42 %54 %

Don’t know16 %15 %

Source: Bill Johnson Poll, 2010 (Jamaica Gleaner)

PNP President Portia Simpson Miller

Support for the island’s two major political parties has dwindled down to the bare bones, with mainly hard-core supporters expressing any interest in voting if an election is called now.

But that has left the Opposition People’s National Party (PNP) in pole position, where it could possibly capture almost 40 seats to the Jamaica Labour Party’s (JLP) 20 if a general election were called.

However, a large constituency of persons who say they are undecided or would not vote could change that outcome considerably if the election fever hits them when the campaign begins.

A Gleaner-commissioned Bill Johnson poll conducted in late April and early May found that 38 per cent of the voters would mark their ballots for the PNP, while 19 per cent said they would vote for the JLP.

hard-core supporters

That represents the basic hard-core supporters of the two major political parties, with most of those who said they would vote for either listing family tradition and party loyalty among the main reasons.

Johnson and his team found that 32 per cent of Jamaicans would not vote, while another 10 per cent said they were undecided.

“The PNP’s core support is about 30 per cent, so that party is doing a littler better than I would expect at this time, while the JLP is slightly below its core support,” political analyst Tony Myers told The Sunday Gleaner.

“But the fact that the JLP is below its core support reflects what has happened in the past five to seven months,” Myers added.

“I am not surprised by the PNP numbers or the uncommitted, but the JLP number is surprisingly low,” said Myers.

The latest poll numbers reflect a massive fallout for the JLP, which has seen the number of persons prepared to vote Labour declining by a frightening 12 per cent.

“That should not really frighten the JLP. The party will know that when the ‘Dudus’ dust settles and if the positive developments in the economy continue, it will begin to win back many of its supporters and its fortunes will improve,” argued a lecturer in government and politics who asked not to be named.

The lecturer, who requested anonymity because of a

project she is working on, added that the decline in the JLP numbers was no reason for the PNP to start popping the champagne as it has not really benefited from the move away from the governing party.

In June 2008, 36 per cent of Jamaicans surveyed told Johnson and his team that they would vote PNP. This inched up to 37 per cent in August 2009, with a statically insignificant increase this year.

The failure of the PNP to attract persons dissatisfied with the governing JLP has piqued the interest of political analysts Richard ‘Dickie’ Crawford and Dr Hume Johnson.

not demanding pnp

Crawford told The Sunday Gleaner that the astounding significance of the poll is that Jamaicans are not demanding the replacement of the JLP government with a PNP one, which is readily available.

“It seems to the electorate that the current political system has so badly failed the country that sheer replacement would be of little or no value, and that the PNP has not convinced us that they are determined to change the old politics,” Crawford said.

“Extraordinarily, the PNP has not benefited from the loss of faith in the JLP,” asserted Johnson.

She noted that while the favourable opinion of the PNP had remained consistent since August 2009, the massive shift in support away from the JLP landed in the category of the uncommitted.

“This should be of great concern to both parties, as it speaks to the high levels of disaffection, apathy and distrust being experienced by the Jamaican people,” said Johnson.

“The figures illustrate that the Jamaican people remain overwhelmingly disappointed with the Opposition, and have clearly lost enormous favour with the JLP,” Johnson asserted.

According to Johnson: “Both parties will have to work hard at rebuilding their credibility, integrity and trust if they wish to sustain stores of favourable opinion.”

That is a position shared by Crawford, who argued that one of the issues which influences voters now is the fact that both political parties are known to have been associated with garrison politics, criminals, and to have links with criminal elements.

“Since this has now been accepted or identified as the most dangerous political practice in Jamaica, responsible for the present crisis, people would want to know if the PNP has cleansed itself of this malady, as well as the negatives of corruption,” Crawford said. (Jamaica Gleaner)

WORKS and Transport Minister Jack Warner should choose between his Cabinet position and his long-standing office as a FIFA vice-president, the chairman of the country’s Integrity Commission has said.

In an interview for this week’s Q&A in the Sunday Express, Dr Eric St Cyr told senior reporter Andy Johnson that Jack should choose one or the other of these portfolios.

This was his personal opinion, he said, going on later in the interview to say he did not know what the views of the other commission’s members were on the matter.

Asked what was his own position in the matter, Dr St Cyr said plainly, ’My personal view is that I think he should choose.

’I know that he is likely to be a very tremendous Minister of Works and so on. But I also know that he really serves the nation and the region on this world platform, but as difficult as that may be, I thought that he should choose one or the other. (Trinidad Express)

Visitors pile up 543/6 declared vs Windies
Garth Wattley St Kitts

Centuries from Jacques Kallis (110) and AB de Villiers (135) have put South Africa firmly in control of this second Digicel Test match at Warner Park.

There was no collapse by the South Africans on day two yesterday, and no spirited fight-back by the West Indies bowlers. But by the time gloomy light ended play at 5.28 p.m., the home team had responded positively to a big run chase.

Captain Chris Gayle (42, seven fours) and Narsingh Deonarine (33, two fours, one six) batted through the last hour and a half of play as West Indies, replying to South Africa’s first innings of 543 for six declared, finished at 86 for one.

The challenging light and Dale Steyn’s searching short deliveries near the end did not shift a fully concentrated Gayle. His team could not afford the loss of another wicket with Travis Dowlin already a casualty.

The makeshift opener tried to be positive against his first-Test nemesis Morne Morkel, pulling him for a boundary. But he was only ten and the total 13 when, as in Port of Spain,  Dowlin pushed at a delivery which was edged into the slip region, de Villiers at third slip holding  the catch.

Deonarine was preferred to Brendan Nash at No.3 this time and he has done the job so far, contributing two fours and a straight six off Paul Harris as he and Gayle raised the Windies 50 inside 12 overs.

The partnership is now worth 75. But the job is far from done.

For most of the day, the  barest consolation for Gayle’s side was their toil was not under  a sparkling sun. They felt the heat nevertheless.

In equal degrees of comfort, Kallis and de Villiers compiled their eighth and fourth centuries, respectively, against West Indies. These are opponents they know well and evidently enjoy playing against.

With conditions cool and the pitch accommodatingly placid, the pair snuffed out any hopes the fielding team may have had of  getting a grip on the game with their fourth wicket partnership of 138.

It was a case of advantage really. Kallis, had 34 previous Test hundreds to prove his class and know-how. And resuming  yesterday with a smoothly compiled 44 already to his name, a century was there for the taking.

Psychologically, it was going to take a quick couple of  breakthroughs to get the West Indies into a more intense, purposeful mode. But Kallis and de Villiers made sure that did not happen. Gayle started with his most effective pair Shane Shillingford and Sulieman Benn. But employing the sweep, Kallis the reverse as well, the pair saw them off in eight overs.

Ravi Rampaul and Kemar Roach replaced them. But they could  find no way through against batsmen who had set themselves to bat a long time.

Kallis and de Villiers batted through to lunch at 398 for three. With Kallis on 99 and de Villiers on 49, significant landmarks were in the offing after the break. However, Kallis was kept waiting for two overs by Shillingford, the off-spinner delivering two maidens. But in the fifth over after lunch, Kallis got to the other end and stroked Benn to the backward point boundary to reach three figures.

However, the big man, having  stroked 12 fours and hit one six in a knock that lasted 227 balls, did not go much further. Rampaul, at deep backward square, kept his eyes on the ball and held on to a swirling catch as Kallis top-edged a sweep at Shillingford. That left the total on 421 for four.

At that stage, South Africa’s top order had produced two century stands and two partnerships over 50. Yet Gayle, who used seven bowlers in all, never once tried himself.

The fifth wicket, however, fell relatively cheaply when left-hander Ashwell Prince was caught at short midwicket by Gayle off Benn after a further 21 had been added.

Wicketkeeper Mark Boucher also did not last too long, as he was run out by Nash’s direct throw as he ran to the striker’s end on de Villiers’ run. It was sharp work from a cricketer who rarely lets himself down in the field, no matter the state of  play.

Boucher had stayed long enough, however, to see his partner get to his century. A four and six off Benn took A.B. to his tenth Test ton. It was an innings distinguished by pleasant footwork against the spinners. There was much cricket eye-food to savour as de Villiers won the battle against Shillingford,  raising South Africa’s 500 with a six off him, and collecting another in the same over off a no-ball.

Only a toilet break, that had de Villiers rushing from the field, and tea time slowed him down. While de Villiers was indisposed, Gayle sat on the turf waiting for the opposition’s next move.

Eventually, his skipper Graeme Smith halted the innings with de Villiers on 135 (13 fours, six sixes).

West Indies were left with a minimum of 32 overs on the second afternoon to begin hauling in that mammoth total. They got through 24.

But Shillingford, 52 overs already under his belt in this match, does not see himself getting back into action soon.

’Given the way the wicket is playing, we as a team just need to go out there and bat and occupy the crease,’ he said after play.

At least that is his hope. (Trinidad Express)

In the schedule of the delineation of duties of Government ministers, the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) does not appear in its usual place under the AG’s office, nor does it appear under any other ministry.

And the schedule, issued on Friday by President George Maxwell Richards, acting on the advice of Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar, shows the newly-created Ministry of Justice, under former High Court judge Herbert Volney, now carries a heavy workload.

Other changes include the sharing of the Community-based Environmental Protection and Enhancement Programme (CEPEP) between the Ministry of Local Government, under Fyzabad MP Chandresh Sharma and Housing Minister Dr Roodal Moonilal.

Another social programme, the Unemployment Relief Programme (URP), has been moved from the Ministry of Works to the Ministry of Labour, Small and Micro Enterprise Development, under Errol McLeod.

Staying in place is State enterprise Urban Development Company of Trinidad and Tobago (UDeCOTT), which will remain in the Ministry of Planning under Mary King.

Following the May 24 general election this year, Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar also announced her intention to share the responsibilities of crime control among the Ministry of National Security, under Brigadier John Sandy; the Ministry of Legal Affairs, under attorney Prakash Ramadhar; the attorney general; and the newly-created Ministry of Justice.

The new schedule shows a heavy load being moved from the Ministry of Security into Volney’s portfolio (See table at right). (Trinidad Express)