Panday: Chaguanas needs a Town Hall

THE DESTINY of a country lies in the choices made by its citizens with respect to how and by whom they are governed. Basdeo Panday, Leader of the Opposition, made the point while  delivering the  feature address at the Mayor’s Award Ceremony and Christmas Dinner of the Chaguanas borough Corporation on Friday night at the Centre Pointe Mall Auditorium, Ramsaran Street, Chaguanas. “In the same way the destiny of this Borough lies in the hands of the burgesses, the mayor, the councillors, the Members of Parliament,  the several service and business organisations, in short,  the stakeholders,” Panday stressed, “You cannot wait for others  who do not understand your community ethos and ethics, nor your history of struggle and sacrifice, to shape the destiny of Chaguanas.”

He advised the gathering “to decide what Chaguanas would look like and feel like in the years to come  and come to a consensus on the destiny into which you would like to arrive in the future and this requires collaboration, participatory leadership, and community service.” Panday said, “You must  forcibly and aggressively ensure  that your vision is supported by Government through equity in resource distribution,  as for example, being the fastest growing borough in the country, you should have a Town Hall in two years time that reflects the cultural ethos of Chaguanas. “You should demand such a building to symbolise  your visionary intent and future destiny  and I would like to stress that Chaguanas should be fully decentralised given its geographic location between north, south, east and west,” Panday.

He commended the borough for their initiative in honouring 65 persons for their contribution in education, community service, business, culture, sports, and journalism, and said “that this effort will certainly inspire and motivate burgesses  towards giving of their time and talents for the cause of the borough, knowing that you care and that you are full of gratitude.” Panday stressed that “the hosting of this function is a powerful  reminder that we live in an inter-dependent world and that partnerships and coalitions between those who are charged with governance and those who are governed, be they individuals or NGOs , service organisations and the business community,  are required for building strong communities.”

He highly commended the borough for its  project — “Chaguanas, Through the Eyes of our Youth, Past, Present and Future,” creating paintings on a 140 foot wall by secondary school students, strongly supported by Sissons Paints, and an art contest for schools, sponsored by Intercommercial Bank, and said that “exercises like these  among the youth, politicians, and the corporate community  link the present to the future through vision and passion.” He urged his listeners to “fight back to regain our communities  that have been snatched away from us  by criminals and criminal elements who contemptuously disregard the law and destroy the lives of young and old if not by drugs then by murder.

“We need people with vision and courage to work for the benefit of our communities as  we must never surrender to the evils which no longer threaten but have, like locusts, begun to eat away our human resources,” Panday said. He called on the nation to always remember the “unsung  heroes  of our country in whatever field of endeavour they excel  as they do more for the nation than Governments whose leaders are only concerned with partnering a special type of community leader for retaining power.” Among those who received an award at the function was Herman Roop Dass, Newsday reporter.