Rename airport after Panday

THE EDITOR: It must have been the final nail in the coffin when Dr David Muhammad and the Eric Williams lecture series put on by the Central Bank and UWI St Augustine to have the intestines to suggest naming the award-winning airport after anybody else besides Basdeo Panday.

He left this dimension at a time where prime ministerial leadership is at the lowest. We could do with a prime minister right now who can manage the economy on US$9 per barrel of oil, 99 murders a year and giving schools the infrastructure needed to educate our children.

As a young man, it sickens me that fellow young people don’t vote and think politics is a game. They don’t know the education they have is a privilege championed by this national hero through the dollar-for-dollar programme, later plagiarised by Manning as the GATE programme. That our parents and our entry-level jobs would not have paid us a minimum wage, that transparency and accountability would not have been a reality if it were not for the freedom of information legislation.

Not to mention guaranteed maternity leave for our mothers and that discrimination of all forms can be resolved by the Equal Opportunities Commission, and unforgettably the Media Complaints Council – remember that?

As a third-generation descendant of sugar cane cutters, Panday’s fight for security of tenure meant that from cutting cane we are now flying planes. Then there are fellow citizens who think the UNC is an Indian party when Panday was one of the fighters during the Black Power riots in 1970. Not to mention his charisma and his language and collaboration with his political opponents in the interest of our country.

TT did not deserve him, some of his colleagues did not deserve him. It is about time we rename the airport after Panday. The PNM owes him an apology for the ungratefulness and abuse he had to endure. His speeches should be digitised and read by social studies students. Death is not the end, nothing is lost.

May Lord Krishna comfort Panday's soul for he has fulfilled his duty in this material world.

KENDELL KARAN

Chaguanas