Manning skips Mexico for Laventille

THE TRINIDAD and Tobago Defence Force was due to demolish a mosque at Plaisance Road, Canada, yesterday but Gover-nment, fearing a confrontation with residents, decided against demolishing the structure. Instead, they agreed to use the building as a community centre, a well-placed source told Newsday. The situation was so tense that Prime Minister Patrick Manning, who was due to leave for Mexico yesterday, cancelled the trip and instead paid an unscheduled visit to the area. No one would say who gave authority for the mosque to be constructed on the site.  The land on which it is located is owned by the National Housing Authority (NHA). However, sources said the structure was allegedly built by a contractor engaged by the NHA to construct apartments in the area. According to the source, the contractor was warned that the structure was illegal and would be demolished but ignored orders to halt its construction. As a result, officials of the NHA sought Government permission for members of the Defence Force to demolish the structure.

Newsday was told that while the controversial building will now serve as a community centre, it will also be used for prayers. The mosque was to be used by members of the Jamaat al Muslimeen, reports said, and this was a source of concern for residents of the area. The decision to stop the demolition and for the Prime Minister to pay an urgent visit to the area was made during a meeting between  NHA and Government officials on Saturday, the source revealed. Manning’s visit, which took the form of a walkabout, started at 10 am at the Beverly Hills housing project in the vicinity of the controversial building and ended three hours later at Pashley Street, Laventille.

Several residents followed Manning and his entourage, which included the MPs for Port-of-Spain South, Eric Williams and Laventille West Eulalie James, as well as Community Development and Culture Minister Joan Yuille-Williams and officials from several agencies including WASA and NHA. Manning told reporters he embarked on the “unusual” visit because there were “too many outstanding matters requiring my attention here in Trinidad.” He said his message to residents would be that  “Government cares.” The Prime Minister added that the visit to the Laventille communities had been delayed by a month and had followed a meeting with several agencies on Saturday on the issues of  “development and job creation, and the circumstances of the economically dispossessed in the country.” He said the visit was the first of many to “depressed areas in the country” since he wanted to “hear what the people had to say, and they usually tell you live and direct.”

Manning also looked at “amenities in the areas, to see the circumstances of how people lived.” He promised to take “some decisions on the ground” and ascertain what should and could be done. He denied that the visit was to meet with community leaders, or that it was linked to the recent death of former Death Row inmate Rennie Paul. During the walk media photographers were warned not to photograph the Prime Minister with so-called community leaders. Manning’s visit took on the appearance of a pre-election activity, as he kissed babies and was even serenaded. He even took the time to play basketball and table tennis and he heard a lot from residents who reminded him that they had worked “hard” during elections and had received nothing in return. One woman called on him to put swimming pools in the area instead of basketball courts. “We aren’t getting anywhere with basketball,” she observed. Another begged: “We don’t want toys and URP and other social programmes. We just want to live and have long-term solutions. We want to be entrepreneurs.”
 
On the issue of  crime, some residents at the Beverly Hills housing project insisted: “We don’t want to lose anyone here again.” The residents told Prime Minister Manning they were tired of hearing gun shots and “closing our doors early.” Leslie Ann Lewis complained about plans by the NHA to relocate residents from their homes. She pleaded with Manning  to ensure they would be given accommodations in new housing units being built.  Manning promised to look into the matter. “My father would not lie to me, he will come back,” Lewis said, apparently satisfied with that response from the Prime Minister. There were also heated words from the residents for their MP, Eric Williams, who was accused of not attending to their needs and not visiting. Williams tried unsuccessfully to placate the angry residents. Manning said the visit was in “good faith” but he was certain there would be political repercussions.