TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO NEWS
Everything here is Trinidad and Tobago related and taken from T&T WhatsApp group and news papers.
Sando Mayor tackles national pastime - Jaywalking.
AFTER relocating the Chaguanas and Curepe taxi stands in San Fernando, Mayor Junia Regrello has installed railings that run the length of the traffic island at Library Corner.
In a social media post Wednesday, Regrello called for citizens to use the railings which he said were introduced as a way to deter what is considered a pervasive problem–crossing the road anywhere, and any time.
President Paula-Mae Weekes
INDEPENDENCE DAY MESSAGES
President Paula-Mae Weekes
Fellow citizens, today marks the 57th anniversary of our Independence and anniversaries are an ideal time for both stock-taking and celebration.
None can deny that our supplies of Discipline, Production and Tolerance are significantly depleted. We are falling grievously short of our founding principles.
Indiscipline in small things, quickly and inevitably turns to indiscipline in larger and more critical matters. Our disconcerting levels of serious crime have their genesis in our laissez-faire attitude to minor infractions.
The heated and vitriolic rhetoric used in political discussion, particularly on social media, is characterised by ethnic intolerance. Trinidad and Tobago is in danger of losing its vaunted status as a model of ethnic harmony.
Reduced yields in natural and human resources have given rise to increased unemployment and an apparent lack of enthusiasm displayed by many workers across the public and private sectors.
Independence has made us the architects, operators and stewards of our destiny, and so we must accept and shoulder personal and institutional responsibility to right the wrongs and restock our shelves with plenty.
And as we contemplate our state of affairs, let us not forget to celebrate our achievements and blessings.
Our diversity, relative harmony and the richness of our cultural traditions stand out as beacons of hope in a bitterly divided world, and prevail over the small pockets of prejudice and partisanship that exist in our society.
Although some of our young people have put their energy and talents to ignoble use, many more have made us proud, for example our young athletes who have, on countless occasions, carried the Red, White and Black proudly on the world stage.
And even though we were all drawn from disparate and sundry paths, we can take pride in our enduring spirit and our ability to overcome the most daunting challenges as one people.
As we mark the 57th anniversary of our birth, we recall the great hope and expectancy that saturated our nation on 31st August 1962, and recapture the optimism of that period. Let us today, renew our commitment to the principles that underpin our nationhood— Discipline, Production and Tolerance.
I wish the national community a happy and contemplative Independence Day.
May God Bless our Nation.
Opposition Leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar
INDEPENDENCE DAY MESSAGES
Opposition Leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar
It is the greatest irony that on the occasion of our 57th Independence Anniversary that our own Government has been doing the same as our colonial oppressors by using the archaic charge of sedition to torment a political opponent. Clearly massa day is not done!
The Great Dr Martin Luther King said, “We all came in on different ships, but we’re all in the same boat now”. This statement rings so true after 57 years of independence. We are Trinidadians and Tobagonians; we cannot be and should not try to be anyone else. While we must never forget our ancestral lineages, customs and cultures, we must strive to build a society that is distinct to our unique circumstances.
In the years leading up to this day in 1962, we aspired, as a nation, towards the freedom to chart our own course. We aspired to throw off the chains of colonial servitude and oppression and build a democratic society to benefit all people.
Therefore, it is the greatest irony that on the occasion of our 57th Independence Anniversary that our own Government is doing the same as our colonial oppressors by using the archaic charge of sedition to torment a political opponent. Clearly, massa day is not done!
Today, on the 57th anniversary of our independence, it is critical that we ask ourselves: what have we allowed our society to become? Have we thrown off the shackles of colonial tyranny and now allowed ourselves to again find our country under similar governance? Are our news editors, journalists, unionists, religious leaders, civil society leaders, concerned citizens, political commentators and non-government politicians now being tacitly intimidated by the recent resurrection of the sedition laws? Watson Duke was charged with sedition in relation to comments made during a television interview last November in which he urged workers of TSTT, TTEC and WASA to be “prepared to die. “This is your belief folks, this is your family and I am sending the message clear, let Rowley them know that the day they come for us in WASA, we are prepared to die and the morgue would be picking up people,” he was quoted as saying.
Fitzgerald Hinds at a PNM meeting said: “I said to my col leagues, as a younger parliamentarian then, I said the UNC is bad ly wound ed. We need to fin ish them out. Kill them dead. I want you to un der stand that on Novem ber 28, you have the op por tu ni ty to dri ve a PNM bal isi er deep in to the hearts of the wicked UNC vam pires.
Take a stake with a bal isi er on top and dri ve it deep with in their heart and fin ish them off once and for all.”
One speaker says be prepared to die for his union members while the other invokes his supporters to kill them dead. Which is worse? Yet there was no investigation, no charge, no protest from the government for one while the other is being prosecuted and persecuted.
What exactly is the specific criteria that is being used to determine what is free speech and what is seditious after 57 years of independence? What are the criteria to determine who is charged and who is not? I do my duty as Opposition leader and ask these questions so as to protect all patriotic citizens from running afoul of this archaic law and an ever-increasing oppressive Government.
Today, the standard of living of our citizens continues to decrease at an alarming rate. Today the dreams of many of citizens are being shattered and their true potential ignored by this Government’s failure to equitably address the needs of the population.
Many of the policies, acts and even inaction in some circumstances by this Government have led to this nation’s image being tarnished and the way of life we once knew is constantly being eroded.
I call on the government to remember their constitutional responsibilities and suspend the modus operandi of the last four years which has seen them operate as a government for “the few and not the many”. I call on the government to be inspired by the accomplishments, dynamism as well as the world-class talents of our people and do all in their power to ensure that each citizen is empowered to be part of nationbuilding.
Today how can we truly celebrate independence when we see some of the same repressive behaviours that were used to torment our preindependence leaders and citizenry being reemployed today. Let us remember those that came before us and who helped to pave the path we now walk upon. We pay tribute to those leaders and seek to build on what they have laid for us.
As we mark this day which all citizens should hold dear to them, given its historic as well as lifedefining significance, it is also a day for national self-introspection as every citizen is called to critically assess the role they have, and the role they should be playing in our nation’s development.
It is our responsibility to now help pave the way for the next generation.
I have faith in the citizens of our nation, in their strength, their innovative spirit, and their courage.
I call on all citizens to reject those who seek to promote divisiveness, oppression and tyranny in our society.
We are the creators of our own futures.
We the people of Trinidad and Tobago are the masters of our destiny.
I wish all citizens a very happy and reflective Independence Day.
PTSC cuts service on holidays, drivers protest
PTSC workers protest at South Quay, Port-of-Spain yesterday.
PICTURE KRISTIAN DE SILVA
PETER CHRISTOPHER
peter.christopher@guardian. co.tt
Several bus drivers attached to the Public Transportation Service Corporation (PTSC) have been protesting against the decision by the company to stop the bus service on public holidays.
The workers raised placards outside of City Gate as they voiced their concerns about the decision, which they said was the latest set of scale backs management has placed on their operations.
Paul Smith, vice president of the Transport and Industrial Workers Union said, “For too long our services have constantly been eroded. Our essential service, which was school service has been put in maxi taxi hands and then the RTS service which was our pilot project was put in maxi taxi hands and now we have public holidays which is being cancelled.”
He said the drivers were not consulted before the decision was made. “The management was supposed to have what they call strategic meetings, and then they were supposed to furnish us with the PDF of whatever corrective measures they have been taking. We have been constantly writing them and they have not been meeting and treating in good faith.”
Another driver, Enrique Debisette said the decisions to cut the Rural Transport Service (RTS) were not well thought out.
“We facing problems in Sangre Grande whereby they cut off Guaico Tamana, Toco hardly running and Manzanilla, North Manzanilla, Valencia it not running at all and Valencia is a revenue run.
Guaico Tamana is a revenue run,” he said.
Tobago based driver and Shop Steward for the union, Curlan Peters also questioned the decision to cut the services, as he felt it would further erode public confidence in the public service.
“They suffering the public, we need the service. The service cannot be when management want to send the service, we serving the people.
We need more buses on a road on a Sunday. Poor people suffering, they need the buses. Country people suffering, The buses not running for how much days now? The people suffering, we need the buses,” he said.
Smith said the protest was also partially to inform the public that these decisions were made by management and not the drivers.
“This management is continuing to degrade our services.
We are fed up of it, we are concerned. Because they started with the maxi in the RTS in our school service and now suspension of all public holidays. How long are we going to continue with this trend? We are fed up of this and today we want to highlight to Trinidad and Tobago that it is not the bus workers that is abusing anything. It is the management and the gross disrespect of the management to meet and treat with the Union,” he said.
Paul said the union was told that the services were cut because they were too expensive.
Guardian Media attempted to contact PTSC General Manager for a comment on the situation yesterday but was unsuccessful.
