Some real questions for our beloved Republic

Republic Day must be a solemn day to reflect, not on where we came from, but where we are going.

As a nation, we often speak of conserving the environment, protecting wildlife, and preserving natural resources. Birds, rivers, insects, and trees are undeniably part of our environment, but we often forget that our primary environment is us, our brothers and sisters. How can we love a butterfly and not love a person? There is no Republic if there is no humanity.

In the past 48 years, have we truly progressed as a Republic or is this just a game of words and tomfoolery? Hunger and malnutrition persist nationwide! According to the World Bank poverty index in 2024, 20 per cent of our population—roughly 300,000 people—live on less than US $2.15 a day. The Living Water Community is one group that feeds our beleaguered yet not a word from our leaders who indulge lavishly. Should we be celebrating at all?

Legislative priorities in question

How can we claim to care for the environment when we fail to care for those within it? Just imagine, our Prime Minister and President can pass legislation before Parliament, that they should be the only two citizens to get their full million-dollar pension, while the rest of the nation toils under economic hardship for a small grant at retirement! This isn’t just about mismanagement; it’s about a fundamental failure to protect and serve our people.

We ask, what exactly does the President do in this country? Hundreds of millions are spent annually on a figurehead President who is powerless, has absolutely no instructive or governance function.

Will constitutional reform continue to be another paper exercise shelved away for another decade to dangle before us on the eve of another general election? This Presidential charade deprives the poor. Would a mature nation be silent?

This Republic deception is a pantomime without accountability.

Without proper procurement laws that safeguard the public purse from inflated contracts and kickbacks, how can we prioritise the welfare of our vulnerable? How can we justify paying exorbitant property rentals to party affiliates at a much higher value than the private sector for similar locations, when public schools lack basic supplies?

How many of our children are home because “there is not enough money to fix all schools”?  Our citizens pay $234 million a year for the rental of buildings but only $20 million to fix over 351 schools. Let that sink in.

Environmental policy fails the people

Do we have common sense or are we a Republic without vision? Millions of gallons of riverine water are being wasted daily with weekly flooding, yet every single day we spend over TT $1.25 million purchasing desalinated saltwater!

In 25 years, we have not invested in simple infrastructure to dam freshwater which is our God-given blessing. Is that a worthy Republic or a sham?

A Republic that spends hundreds of millions of dollars on unnecessary projects, such as changing the Coat of Arms, while hundreds of thousands live in abject poverty. Why prioritise symbolic changes when so many of our citizens are left hungry, homeless, and hopeless?

How can we love nature when we build a superfluous highway on the southern boundary of the internationally renowned, naturally-occurring Aripo Savannas, in the middle of the forest, from nowhere to nowhere, 300 meters east of the Cumuto Main Road—and which ends in the forest, 600 meters west of Guaico Trace?

This highway was approved under political pressure and the highhandedness of the Managing Director who “expected to have a Certificate of Environmental Clearance (CEC) for signature” and against the technical advice of EMA’s Technical staff.

Seven years later, an incomplete highway, flooding in Sangre Grande, gridlock traffic along the Valencia Stretch straight into Sangre Grande… a stark $600 million symbol of waste in the face of need. How can we justify such spending when roads and bridges are collapsing everywhere?

This is not a new phenomenon. Lower Fort George, a middle-class community, is plagued by uncollected garbage, maggot-infested streets, and a failing regional corporation. How do we reconcile the degradation of such human communities with false Republican claims of progress and development?

Every week garbage builds up and every three weeks it is collected. Why must our schoolchildren walk past this filth? We are being charged property tax on our homes, that we paid stamp duties and taxes to buy, register, and build, by the hands of a Government that does not act!

Health and environmental injustice

The issues extend beyond mismanagement and waste. Environmental hazards directly impact the health of our most vulnerable. Every day, our Sealots brothers are blanketed and forced to breathe toxic, carcinogenic fumes from a nearby illegal dump that burns garbage in the footsteps of our capital city. Are our citizens’ health a priority? Shouldn’t a Republic protect its most vulnerable citizens from toxic burning?

A Republic in decline?

Are we truly a Republic? A Republic is more than a name, a title, or a figurehead President waving from a gallery. It is a system that values its citizens, protects its natural resources, and ensures justice and equality for all.

Today we have a Prime Minister who says “Don’t blame me” for degradation, for corruption, for our open seas plagued with pirates, and for our citizens cowering in fear of being raped, robbed, brutalised or murdered.

We are in a broken, dilapidated system in need of repair. This day is not one on which we should tap ourselves on the shoulder.

If we love, and care for our people, the hungry, the poor, and the vulnerable, only then can we love the environment and have a country worth saving.

Until we address the fundamental issues of corruption, inequality, and environmental injustice, we will continue to fail both our citizens and our natural world.

—Gary Aboud,

concerned citizen, St James