TT gets new President today

CARLA BRIDGLAL

BISHOPS girls, past and present, around the world are donning their ties to celebrate their pride as one of their own, Madame Justice Paula-Mae Weekes, gets set to create history as the first woman to hold the position of Head of State of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago.

“I had to look, but I found not just one, but three of mine!” said Cheryl Ann Lala, a former classmate of Weekes. She joins scores of others who, following a rally cry on the Bishop Anstey High School Alumnae Association Facebook page Friday, stand ready to display their school colours. The school’s choir will also perform at the inauguration ceremony, along with the All Saints’ Church Choir.

President Paula will officially be inaugurated just after 10 am, when the ceremony is scheduled to begin. At the Queen’s Park Savannah, on a stage most recently lauded as the pinnacle of the Carnival Tuesday experience, and in front of a crowd 10,000 strong, Ms Weekes will be sworn in by Chief Justice Ivor Archie as the sixth President of the Republic. She will be heralded by a 21-gun salute and a rendition of the National Anthem, before delivering her maiden speech.

“The stage is ready, and most of the ground staff are in place.

The North Stand just needs a couple more chairs, but that’s it,” Chief Petty Officer (Ret’d) Brinsley McKay told Newsday yesterday at the Savannah. The public is invited to attend the historic occasion, and while the Grand Stand is reserved for specially invited guests, the North Stand is open to everybody.

“There are tickets for the seats in the North Stand, but there will be standing room available. If people come without a ticket, we won’t turn them away.” McKay has been working on co-ordinating the event for the last three weeks. It’s not his first parade, though: he joined the military in 1974, and has overseen the inauguration of every one of country’s Presidents—from the second term of Sir Ellis Clarke to now, Ms Weekes.

He’s once again a witness to history.

“I feel very good. Very proud. I hope the stands will be filled and children will line the streets to celebrate.

This is how I felt when I saw the Union Jack sliding down the pole and our national flag replacing it,” he said.