‘We need to buck up in TT’

After nine years, the Carenage Fishing Centre was officially opened yesterday by Diego Martin West MP, Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley.

He said although the centre was located in Carenage, it was a national facility that was the best in the country and probably the Caribbean. He added that it was designed to host a mixture of culinary arts and cultural performances to become a place for entertainment.

He said it was modelled after Oistins Fish Fry in Barbados where locals and tourists would go to eat good food, drink, lime, and be entertained. He said once the Fish Fry facility was established, if used for the purpose it was built, the Centre would be a serious economic entity for the people of Carenage. He stressed that the building was an expensive project, and those using the facility were “required” to treat it as a gift from the people of TT so they were expected to maintain it and keep it clean. He warned them that no shacks, misconduct, or lawlessness would be tolerated and that there would be proper management and enforcement of the law in and around the Centre. “And if you don’t believe me, my next assignment in Carenage is the Police Station 100 yards away.” Rowley told the gathered crowd he was satisfied the day of the opening had finally arrived and warned that not all who invoked the name of God were acting in the best interests of the country.

“That is particularly hurtful when such persons hold public trust, meaning hold public office or on the public payroll somewhere. And I’m not here only talking about politicians who hold ministerial office. I’m talking about persons on the payroll who are supposed to clean the drains, who supposed to do local government work, who supposed to be in their offices to serve you when you get there, and who are supposed to collect public revenue when it is due and legally collectable. We need to buck up in TT and to stop making excuses for wrongdoing.”

He said the facility represented the worst in public misbehaviour because in five of the nine years since the project was started, the previous government had no regard for the people of Carenage.

He accused the People’s Partnership government of taking a deliberate political decision to neglect the facility and others in his constituency. “A government aught never to be so accused.”

He said today the Opposition continually asked the People’s National Movement Government when it would finish projects the PP started knowing that the Government, unlike other governments, did not have the money to do so. “When are we going to put down the politics and take up love, genuine love for the interest of the people of TT?” he asked.

Over a dozen cabinet members were there to support the PM including the new Minister of Communications Stuart Young; Minister of Agriculture, Land and Fisheries Clarence Rambharat; Minister of National Security Edmund Dillon; and new Minister of Public Administration Marlene McDonald.