Save T&T now before more is lost

By STEVE ALVAREZ DPTT Political Leader

Soon one of the last remaining hanging bridge in Moruga that is structurally sound will rot and fall into the river due to neglect.

Already, there is an ugly replacement bridge in place and no plans to repair and save the existing beautiful structure for the next generation. The St Chad’s Church and graveyard in Chaguaramas will soon be no more. The satellite station in Maqueripe that was among the first in the world to support wireless communication is daily getting to the point of “no longer salvageable”. Our country is falling apart before our very eyes and no one seems to care. They do not seem to want to raise funds to rebuild unless there can be some way to enrich the few.

Pillaging the nation’s wealth

In May of 2017, I wrote an article entitled “The government cannot get property tax before the next General Election.” I indicated then that if one were to assume there were about four hundred thousand property owners (the figure is much more) it would take years to complete the task of evaluation and billing every property owner. I suggested instead that if the government wanted to immediately collect revenue from property tax, they should consider a percentage increase on the old property tax. It is about one year before another General Election and they have not collected one cent from property tax. Are the property assessors currently being hired on contract, another way to find employment for supporters? Certainly, it could not be about earning additional income for the government as that would not happen before the next election.

Trinidad & Tobago must end the cycle of electing politicians who seem to be more concerned with pillaging the Nation’s wealth than developing our Nation. Water leaks are aplenty but water supply is sporadic. Just off the Mucurapo Foreshore, there are a community of squatters daily cutting down the mangrove and destroying the home of the few birds that still nest in that area. No one seems to care that soon that area will become a “Shanty Town”.

No one seems to care

Not even the “Fishermen and Friends of the Sea” who protest whenever the government seems to embark on any development plan seem concerned with this precious layer of mangrove. It’s almost like a serious sick joke that the opposition party is daily attempting to gain political mileage by saying this administration ought to be voted out because they are more corrupt than the previous administration.

There is no case for election based on plans to improve public services. No one cares that after a major investment in electronic passport-reading machines at Immigration in the airport, citizens are required to go through the immigration process that existed before the machines were installed. No one seems to care that the rainy season is almost here and traditional low-lying areas are not being prepared for what is promising to be an unusually wet and stormy rainy season. No one seems to care about the fact that there seems to be no long-term strategic plan to pay off our country’s debts and balance our budget. It is time to stop the cycle of the many voting to enrich the few. Together and only together, we the people can support real change and start rebuilding Trinidad & Tobago. It is time to save what is left of our heritage for the generations to come.