AHMED WALKS THE WALK
25 August, 2015
In her quest to provide real representation to the people of San Fernando West, UNC candidate Raziah Ahmed met with residents of La Romaine on Monday.
Among the problems listed were poor drainage, flooding and crime. Ahmed, who held a cottage meeting at Bamboo Village, after the walkabout, said she was committed to listening to the people of the constituency.
La Romaine falls in three constituencies, Oropouche East, Oropouche West and San Fernando West. The right side of the Southern Main Road stretching from Duncan Village to Church Street, La Romaine, falls in the marginal San Fernando West constituency.
San Fernando West has 52 polling divisions and less than a week after her candidacy was announced, Ahmed said she was able to cover 20 polling divisions. “The problem in this area is the lack of representation so I am prepared to engage the people in a conversation to listen to their complaints,” Ahmed said. Saying she was appalled at the state of drainage, Ahmed said she will do everything in her power to ease the flooding and drainage woes in the La Romaine area.
One resident Ako Vaughns called on the government to provide better recreational facilities for the people. “The young people have nothing to do. All we have here is a set of bars and casinos,” Vaughns said. He added that the People’s Partnership government did a good job in providing educational opportunities for the people but added that more had to be done to deal with crime.
Kenrick Subiah said even though government had increased employment opportunities for people, many were still unemployed. “It’s up to people to take the opportunity. This is something that we cannot force people to do,” Subiah said.
Another resident Stephan Gonzales said that crime in the La Romaine region had not improved in the past decade. He explained that under the Patrick Manning government, immigrants were given free reign to come to T&T. “A lot of the crime is being done by small islanders,” Gonzales said.
Meanwhile businessman Kama Maharaj called on the residents to bring out their friends and family to vote on September 7. He said the PNM could not manage the economy and it was up to the People’s Partnership government to steer the country on a continued stable footing.