TT should honour Mandela

THE EDITOR: The world is now gathered in Johannesburg to celebrate Nelson Mandela’s 85th birthday, and I renew my appeal that Trinidad and Tobago should honour the life and memory of a great and true world statesman. Several years ago, I advocated that the Eastern Main Road, or part of it be renamed after Mandela.

We should also have invited him to come to Trinidad and Tobago. What an inspiration that would have been to all the people of the Caribbean, to showcase an icon of such moral strength, who could be so devoid of any hate or animosity despite his 27 years of imprisonment. The man’s metal was best illustrated when he stepped back from political power, once he had fulfilled his mission to remove apartheid from the statute books of South Africa, and political power was in the hands of the majority blacks. It was during Patrick Manning’s first administration, and it fell on deaf ears. Many other parts of the world have recognised Mandela for his contribution to justice, to democracy and to our human society in our time.

Our leaders must have a wider world vision if we aspire to First World membership. I myself have found it difficult to succumb to all the 2020 hype, generated by one of Manning’s off the cuff dreams, no different to his expressed wish to occupy the Red House. In this I feel reassured by the recent comments of both Fr Clyde Harvey and Canon Knolly Clarke which seem to debunk Manning’s 2020 vision, while the nation is helpless and paralysed in the midst of a national crime epidemic.

I nonetheless commend Mr Arthur Lockjack for agreeing to champion Manning’s 2020 illusion, though I would have preferred if Arthur’s vision and abilities have been utilised instead as chairman of Udecott, or Caroni’s land bank. In either of these, his business expertise, his financial independence, and his TT passport are more likely to guarantee that Manning receives the best advice in the interest of Trinidad and Tobago. Is this however, what Manning wants, or is he just content with foreign sycophant gofers?

MICHAEL J WILLIAMS
Maracas