Govt moving to curb fireworks

Prime Minister Patrick Manning said yesterday that Government is moving to curb the use of fireworks in Trinidad and Tobago.

Referring to the incident at the Machel Montano Alternative Concept fete in which a firework display sparked a fire and injured patrons, Manning noted: “That was bound to come. In fact within recent times, there has been an escalation in the use of fireworks which is incidentally against the law. The incident of this weekend has brought that starkly into focus and I can assure you that we are going to look into it. It has to be curbed.”
Pressed as to how soon action would be taken, Manning said he didn’t want to be precipitate. In response to a question, he said he could not say if people would be charged as a result of last weekend’s incident, since “I don’t charge anybody.”

Manning was speaking to reporters following the opening of the 2003 Tribology Conference at the Trinidad Hilton. In reference to the incident of violence at the Ministry of Education’s school Soca Storm, Manning was asked whether Government condoned school children going to these concerts, the Prime Minister was vague. Soca was part of our culture, he said. Asked whether school children should be allowed to attend unsupervised, Manning was cautious. “Perhaps you may say (that there was) inadequate supervision,” he said.

Manning said one of the things the Ministry of Education had done from yesterday morning was to put a School Supervisor in all the schools.
“Those schools which they have identified (as high-risk), they (the Supervisors) have gone into those schools to ensure that things are done in the school in the way they should be,” he said. He declined to be more specific, saying that he did not want to be accused of casting aspertions on anyone. He said Government was responding to the situation and that supervision is  one of the important elements in the matter. Asked whether it was time to consider putting scanners in schools, Manning said the experts say that this is a last resort and that he has not yet reached that stage (where it is advisable). “Was he happy with the performance of Education Minister? “The answer is yes,” the Prime Minister said.