tidings
Sean Douglas
The Prime Minister said Trinidad and Tobago has made great strides and, despite current challenges, can continue to develop if citizens stay the course.
In his message for this country’s 60th year of Independence, Dr Rowley said TT can boast of great individuals in sport, arts and entertainment, plus others in government who have raised the country to industrialized status, to all were now worthy of recognition.
“Look around the globe, let’s put ourselves on the world canvas.
“We are a world-class achievement! Colonialism is gone, a nation is born, and we are called to continue building it.”
TT’s current socio-economic and political status can best be assessed by looking at the world and how the stability of older, better-resourced countries has been shaken.
Referring to the recent Commonwealth Games, he said: “At the age of 60, we are also enjoying today, dizzying moments of sporting excellence thanks to the gold, silver and bronze medals recently awarded to us by our cyclists, Nicholas Paul and Teniel Campbell, and 200m Sprinter Jereem Richards.
“On reflection, our athletes have brought us many such moments, over the past 60 years, even before Independence, from weightlifting great Rodney Adolphus Wilkes’ silver and bronze medals at the 1948-52 Olympics.
“We are always grateful for our Olympic medals – three gold, five silver and eleven bronze – the royal memories of the sporting giants we created, their achievements and world records.”
He mentioned Olympians Hasely Crawford, Wendell Mottley, Edwin Roberts, Ken Bernard, Lennox Yearwood, Richard Thompson, Keston Bledman, Emmanuel Callender, Marc Burns, Aaron Armstrong, Keshorn Walcott and Ato Boldon. The Prime Minister welcomed Paralympians Rachael Marshall, Akeem Stewart and Nyoshia Cain.
He recalled bodybuilders Christopher Forde and Michael Hercules in bodybuilding; TT joint champion netball team in 1979; boxing champions, Claude Noel and Leslie Stewart; swimmer George Bovell; the TT football team at the 2006 World Cup, including Dwight Yorke and the world’s greatest cricket batsman, Brian Lara.
In culture, he hailed TT panistas, calypsonians including David Rudder and the Mighty Sparrow, and chutney artists. In literature, he greeted Nobel laureate VS Naipaul, St Lucian-born Derek Walcott, novelist Earl Lovelace and others.
He recalled TT’s three world-class beauty queens, great artists such as LeRoy Clarke, Glenn Roopchand and Carlisle Chang, designer Peter Minshall, dancer Geoffrey Holder and artist Boscoe Holder, musician Pat Bishop, limbo dancer Julia Edwards, pop star Billy Ocean MBE, UK-based steel band leader Terrence Noel MBE and UK newscaster Sir Trevor McDonald. Rowley welcomed designers Anya Ayoung Chee, Meiling, Claudia Pegus and Heather Jones.
Of TT’s first Prime Minister Dr Eric Williams and activist/author CLR James, he said: “Both Dr Williams and CLR saw in us the potential to become a great nation, if we are tolerant of each other, and we marched collectively.
“Our democratic freedoms allow us the choice to subordinate our egos, ambitions and interests to the needs of the entire nation. This is the essence of politics and nationhood – citizens working together to advance their common good.”
He said that TT’s economic fortunes, following global economic cycles, have ebbed and flowed, but the UN now ranks TT at the top of their human development index.
“So, citizens, let’s move beyond the perpetual naysayers, with their miserable self-defeating bag of negativity, that ‘this isn’t a real country.’
“We are a wonderful country and red, white covers us all in every circumstance. Accept the responsibility, feel the pride.
“Many citizens still do not realize that income from Point Lisas has improved and preserved the quality of their daily lives from the classroom to the hospital, to the dining table and vacation experiences. At 60 years old, this nation must say with loudly, “Thank you Dr Eric Eustace Williams. Thank you Professor Ken Julien, thank you Frank Barsotti, thank you Frank Rampersad, thank you Dr Euric Bobb and the teams of dedicated public servants.”
