PM urges Baptists: Forgive Crowne Plaza

PRIME MINISTER Patrick Manning called upon members of the Shouter Baptist community to forgive those responsible for an incident at the Crowne Plaza which saw Shouter Baptists being ejected from the hotel’s ballroom. Manning preached this gospel of forgiveness as he addressed Shouter Baptist Liberation Day celebrations at Maloney African Lands, Orange Grove Lands and Port-of-Spain City Hall. Last Friday, Shouter Baptists were ejected from the Crowne Plaza’s ballroom due to miscommunication about a conference they were holding there.

The Prime Minister said the incident was “a gross error” but both the hotel and the person responsible for the incident had since apologised for it. He suggested that the Baptists should accept that apology, forgive them and press on. “If we don’t forgive, how can we expect forgiveness for ourselves?” Manning asked. Noting that Trinidad and Tobago is not a homogenous society, Manning said it was easy for such misunderstandings to occur and his role as prime minister was to serve as conciliator. However UNC chairman Wade Mark said the Opposition found the Crowne Plaza incident “revolting” and called for an inquiry into the matter. Mark appealed to Manning to implement the Equal Opportunity Act to prevent a repeat of last week’s incident. He noted that it was under the former UNC regime that the Baptists were granted a public holiday and received lands. Mark also said the UNC ammended the Summary Courts and Summary Offences Acts to allow freedoms previously prohibited to the Baptists and the Orishas.