PORT OF SPAIN (CMC): Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley on Wednesday defended the decision to replace the three ships of the Spanish explorer, Christopher Columbus, on the Trinidad and Tobago Coat of Arms with the national instrument, the steelpan.
Addressing a special convention of the ruling People’s National Movement (PNM) earlier this month, Rowley said that the change is expected to be finalised before Republic Day on September 24, with a six-month transition period to facilitate changes to stationery and other official materials.
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But his announcement was met with division in the public domain with some politicians, social commentators and university lecturers indicating that it was being done without proper consultation and is designed to help the government win the 2025 general election.
Opposition Leader Kamla Persad Bissessar, while acknowledging that Columbus was wrongfully celebrated for some time, said nonetheless that “sanitising history, truth, and free speech in the modern era of wokeness, virtue signalling, and cancel culture will only promote ignorance and foster the repetition of evil acts in the future that can be preventable.”
She said erasing history by removing symbols will not improve or change citizens’ understanding of history, adding that, “the nation’s true history should be taught in our schools, one that provides the good and bad of all our historical figures.”
“The truth of our past and present is bitter and harsh and should not be manipulated to serve any singular agenda. Instead, it should be used to enlighten successive generations so they will not repeat the mistakes and misdeeds of the past,” Persad Bissessar said.
But Rowley said that if a poll were conducted on Frederick Street in the heart of the capital, Port of Spain, regarding the removal of the three ships on the emblem,“99 per cent of the people would ask me what three ships….?
“The bottom line is that the government of Trinidad and Tobago, as part of our overall celebration and fixing the future of the steelpan took that decision and then we are accused of not consulting and I am being accused and castigated personally by political party leaders…”
He said when the necessary pieces of legislation are brought to the Parliament “everybody who represents anybody will have a say and a vote,” noting that on that day, it is possible that members of the government might well vote against the bills.
“It will be in the Parliament, how in God’s name you could label that as private party business,” Rowley said, dismissing allegations that the changeover will cost the government millions of dollars (One TT dollar =US$0.16 cents) in much-needed revenue.
