More news from Trinidad

Trinidad & Tobago is still recovering from the effects of the snap election, the results  of which surprised  very few persons here except as  it related  to the extent of the victory of the People's Partnership.

Many people  are hopeful that  a new dawn will emerge  where citizens of T&T  will  become  more like the Jamaican   who   displays such national pride   without  emphasizing ethnicity.   But equally there is the fear  especially in some quarters  that  too much "douglarization " will occur and   Trinis will lose the richness of  individuality  derived  from their  racial  origin and customs  that distinguishes them from the rest of the islanders  in the Caribbean. In truth  it is only in Suriname  that one sees this marvellous  diversity  of cultures  that  is the norm in these twin islands of Trinidad & Tobago.

The rains have started  and with it the floods due largely  to poor planning and lack lustre  attempts  at drainage in Central Trinidad - causing  loss of crops and massive damage to property. The new Prime Minister scored points in that she cut short the festivities  after her inauguration   and visited  the areas  affected   and had her Ministers and parliamentarians on the ground from the next day  providing  assistance and finding solutions. Since then, she has launched a "Clean and Beauty (C&B) TT  programme"  where  she is calling on all citizens, private and public sector   to get involved. She has also established an Interministerial Committee  to address  flooding and damage and to coordinate an integrated action plan  on water resources management, drainage, flooding, water capture, conservation, sustainable food production  and food security  through a deployment of human resources and equipment. Her vision, she says  for the C&B is " for citizens  to recognize that they had a part to play and a duty to ensure that the environment  was preserved and protected"

This is so different from the previous regime that branded environmentalists  and conservationists self seeking obstructors of development  and progress.

On another tack, I was caught up in the middle of the bombscare at   the EricWilliams Complex, Mt. Hope last Tuesday  when  at the beginning of a packed Clinic, largely of elderly patients, we were  informed by our courteous and organized  clinic clerk that Security  was advising us to proceed at once to our muster point  as  word  had been received that a bomb was planted somewhere in the block of buildings in which our Clinic was situated. This we did praying fervently that the skies  which had been looking ominous all morning  would not erupt in rain since our muster point  was across the street from the  Clinic in a carpark and sheltered only by some Spathodia trees.

It was a bonding experience,  where in typical Trini fashion we made the best of it, trading "picong" back and forth, "macoing" all that was going on in other sections of the Complex and "pinting"  across at the Women's Hospital  where   the new Minister of Health  was visiting, since our muster point  gave us a vantage view. As  Minister Baptiste-Cornelis said afterwards to the media, the bomber got his signals crossed, since her  visit  was to the  Mt. Hope Women's Hospital and not to the Mt. Hope Medical Complex.

In due course, we were allowed to return to resume the Clinic,  the whole exercise  being very adroitly handled  by the Fire Service, the Security and Bomb squad and the disaster preparedness arm of the Complex , all of whom have been drilled many times before for the Summit and CHOGM.

In typical flippant Trini fashion,  it passed  off without  apparent trauma even to some patients  that had to be evacuated  from wards,  but the secret fear is this, suppose one day it  will not be a hoax.