Build up, don’t kill and destroy

Speaking after a press conference to announce the implementation of a 25 percent rebate on electricity bills $300 and under at the Ministry’s office in St Clair, Hinds noted that women now feel unsafe while walking the street, which should not be the case. On December 5, Banfield left her workplace at Independence Square to shop at Pennywise and IAM & Co Ltd but never made it back to her Santa Cruz home. On December 8, her body was found on a shelf in a storeroom on the third floor of IAM & Co Ltd’s Charlotte Street outlet, covered with cardboard boxes.

“The instinct of a man is to protect women, not to abuse or to beat and disregard and disrespect and rape and kill her...I call upon the citizens of Trinidad and Tobago, and in particular the young men, to watch how you walk and watch how you talk and build and create and construct rather than destroy and be a danger to us all,” Hinds said.

Meanwhile, Jaja, a WASA (Water and Sewerage Authority) attendant for the past three years, was conducting repairs on a trench in Powder Magazine, Cocorite on Tuesday around 11 am when he was shot and killed. His co-worker, Luke Rampersad, 34, was also shot and was warded at Port-of-Spain General Hospital.

Hinds asked youths to respect utility workers when they enter their community as the aim was to help, not to take anything. He said even if youths did not respect the utility employees as professionals, they should be respected because they provide services for the benefit of their family.

“I would like to call, particularly on the young citizens, the young males of Trinidad and Tobago, when you see that yellow vehicle marked TTEC (TT Electricity Commission), and the utilities personnel drive into your community, it is not that they are on a picnic or they come to drink a beer because it’s Christmas. They have come to provide a service to you and your community... I ask you please to allow these professionals to get on with their work. Unperturbed, undisturbed,” he said.

Hinds noted that police did not usually accompany utility workers to job sites but there were some circumstances where staff would request police presence if they feel uncomfortable visiting an area.

He said as MP for Laventille West he recognised that the communities in his area were perceived to be dangerous.

He said that WASA, TTEC, Telecommunications Services of Trinidad and Tobago (TSTT) and he himself have had no issues.