tidings
Good luck George
THA Chief Secretary Farley Augustine has defended the Central Government’s $7.5 million grant to celebrate TT’s 60th anniversary of independence.
“You can’t put a price on patriotism,” he told Newsday in an interview Tuesday.
Augustini said Tobago has been included in the ministerial committee overseeing plans for the independence celebration, but the island will host several additional events separate from the national calendar.
“Locally, we are moving the fireworks to the town center (Scarborough) and back to the harbour. We would shoot fireworks from the water from a barge. We would have some great fireworks night celebrations along that Milford Road Esplanade area.
“The parade is in progress, and all our detachments are busy in drill. We would parade in the morning, as is the custom, and they would parade theirs along the highway and into town, coming in from Wilson Road, as is the custom.”
He said the assembly is also working on securing some mementos, “so that once you attend the parade, once you’re in the vicinity, you get a memento commemorating our 60th anniversary as a nation…We are finalizing those plans as we speak.”
He said that THA is part of the national scope.
“We have representatives from THA sitting on the national panel that is being chaired by Minister (Camille) Robinson-Regis in Trinidad, so we are very much an integral part of the planning.”
He bristled at criticism from some quarters that the $7.5 million earmarked for the national Diamond Independence Day celebration was excessive.
“We can’t look at moments like this as a waste of money. You can’t put a price on patriotism and that’s one of the areas I would support the central government and the policy for it.”
He said he was looking forward to Jamaica’s 60th anniversary as he began his celebrations months ago.
“They have their parade, they have their drills, their cultural show and they finish with their fireworks at night. I looked and saw Jamaica having a drone show – to have a drone show, we’re talking about hundreds of drones lined up with computers and being used to create national emblems and symbols in the night sky. I saw them paragliding — paragliding soldiers — and all kinds of things, and you look at the stadium full and I’m saying, what do we need to do, what do we need to do more to create that level of patriotism?”
He concluded: “So at times like this, it’s OK in a country to pause – to introspect, of course, because there are some things we haven’t done right as a country, but certainly there are other things that we have done right as a country. An achievement we can celebrate – moments like this, we have to celebrate.”
