Rowley’s Musings – A Case Of Hallucination With A Cause

The recent suggestion of Dr Keith Rowley that the Highway to Point Fortin will stop at Penal is another of his hallucinations, but not without loaded intent. By suggesting as he does that the highway will stop in Penal, he continues to try to perpetuate the idea of a government that is biased towards its own support base when in reality the visible evidence contradicts him. This statement of his is a continuation of the subtle attempt to introduce race in the politics as was done in Tobago with the Calcutta ship, and most recently with the ‘too black’ to lead musings of Fitzgerald Hinds, for which Hinds has not been sanctioned by the PNM. This leads to the obvious conclusion that these statements are sanctioned by Balisier House. I am afraid that Dr Rowley is slowly but surely disqualifying himself by a failure to denounce such covert attempts to create divisions in the society. That a person aspiring for leadership has to depend on this kind of campaign speaks volumes about  not just the means which one may use to attain power but also how power may be used when it is achieved.

What is the evidence that the Kamla Persad Bissessar administration is not engaged in any kind of discrimination? Let us enumerate:

1. The Diego Martin Highway Expansion
2. The Valencia Bye-Pass Road to Sangre Grande
3. The widening of the Trincity Bridge near the Trincity mall
4. The building of the Oropoune Village Overpass
5. The development of the Chaguaramas facilities as has never before been done by the PNM
6. The completion of the Uriah Butler Interchange
7. The soon to be awarded and to start Curepe Interchange
8. The repairs to the St Joseph River Bridge now in progress
9. Lighting up of several recreation  grounds on the East West Corridor
10. The completion of several new pavilions by both the Sports Company and Local Government
11. Announcement by the PP Govt that the Port of Spain Hospital will be re-developed in conjunction with the UK
12. The current construction of the Oncology Center at Mt Hope
13. Expansion of the roadway into three lanes between the LIghthouse on the Beetham and the POS market.
14. Lest it be forgotten the response of the govt to the  two blackouts which occurred in POS over the last few months and the quick manner in which the Beetham fire was attended to has gained the admiration of the national population.
15. The replacement of the transmission mains along the East West Corridor (as seen by nightly work on the bus route) by WASA.

These are but  a few examples of attention to the East West Corridor and I have not included community centers and schools. The Govt has also established the Nursing School at EL Dorado which is also on the Esst West Corridor. To berate the Hon PM for building a campus In Debe and further to suggest that it is only for law studies is to grossly mislead the mind of the nation.

On the matter of the Highway to Point Fortin work is proceeding both from Debe to Penal and also from Dumfries Road In La Romaine to Mon Desir. AS well work has started from the Dunlop Roundabout in Pint Fortin to No 8 Road near La Brea. Work on the new section of the highway along the Mosquito Creek is visible to all including the piling for the new Godineau Bridge and the bridge near Paria Suites. The clearing and grubbing of lands between Delhi Road and Grants Trace is ongoing. To suggest that the Highway is going to stop at Penal is very misleading and utterly mischievous. I will go so far as to say that it is intended to paint this govt as a south of the Caroni government. Given the traditional geographic settlement of our people and the traditional support bases of the parties, the intentions of such statements are easily discernible. At the final count it will become obvious that the dollars spent in infrastructure development North of the Caroni exceeds that spent South of the Caroni.

So what if the people of South Trinidad especially the South West Peninsula are given access to a UWI Campus in Debe, or a state of the art Teaching Hospital in San Fernando, or a Hospital in Penal with specialization in NCD’s?  Good governance is also about equitable distribution of resources and a respect for rural communities. Under the PNM rural development was neglected at the expense of urban development. This needed to be corrected whether it is in Toco, Penal, Point Fortin , La Brea or Matelot.

The evidence disputes Rowley’s veiled suggestion of discrimination in the developmental thrust of the Kamla Persad Bissessar’s administration.

SURUJ RAMBACHAN
MINISTER OF WORKS AND INFRASTRUCTUTRE
DEPUTY POLITICAL LEADER UNC