Caption: Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley speaking at a press conference at the Diplomatic Centre in St Ann’s in February with the Coat of Arms behind him
By Prior Beharry
THE change to the Coat of Arms of Trinidad and Tobago as is being suggested by Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley will cost hundreds of millions of dollars.
It would mean replacing the old one at all government buildings and on all official stationery.
This is how some are responding to the announcement to replace the three ships of Christopher Columbus – the Nina, the Pinta and the Santa Maria – which commemorates his discovery of the island of Trinidad in 1498, with the steelpan.
But others welcome the move.
Political Leader of the Progressive Empowerment Party (PEP) Phillip Edward Alexander said the announcement by Dr Rowley on Sunday with just another example of distraction.
In a release on Monday, he said, “It creates a false flag and a dog whistle, it galvanises and divides and it creates an environment of distrust all without consultation with the wider national community.
“Then there is the massive cost that will be associated with this change at a time when the country is depleting savings to meet critical and recurring expenditure, begging the question why now?
“Aren’t there more important issues to be addressed including securing the borders, diversifying the economy and shoring up collapsing infrastructure? What about the failing education and health sectors?
“Shouldn’t this amount of effort and resources be used where it can do the greatest good?
“No this is using taxpayer funds for cheap election grandstanding wrapped in an issue that should be deferred to time when money is not the problem it is now. Institutions are at their lowest levels of trust, violent crime at its highest and surging, of all the critical issues that need addressing, the PNM has found a way to inject into the national conversation another divide and rule distraction. “
Former attorney general Garvin Nicholas said this “simple act” of changing the Coat of Arms will cost taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars.
In a Facebook post, he said, “Changing the Coat of Arms is not a simple act of getting up on a platform and saying so, it involves $100s of millions in expense.
“It will impact signage on every government building, all government stationery and significantly, all our money.
“At a time when the government is broke, maxed out in overdrafts and loans and raising taxes by way of property tax to squeeze every last penny out of citizens, do we really need to incur this level of ‘pandering expense’?”
But AZP News reader Charles Carvallo agreed with the decision of Dr Rowley and called for the steelpan to be placed on Caribbean Airlines aircraft.
In a comment on AZP News story on the Coat of Arms, Carvallo said, “I am fully in agreement with the decision taken to put out Steelpan on our Coat of Arms.
“CAL should also remove the Hummingbird from the tail of their aircraft and put back the Steelpan as BWIA once had it.
“There are many International Airlines with a similar bird on their aircraft and CAL needs to stand out as our own.”
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