There is a very expensive television advertisement that is regularly aired showing ex-Caroni workers smiling from ear to ear as they tell of their no-strings-attached ownership of promised Caroni lands. What is not being shown is the number of disgruntled workers, very unhappy and very angry indeed, at not being given their just due. After four years-plus in power the Partnership government has been unable to disburse the promised lands in a timely manner except to a selected few.
The first heady years in power found a new government rampaging through the political tulips with no regard for fixing promises made by the outgoing People's National Movement (PNM). The PNM had been regularly blasted about the unfair ruinous closing of the Caroni sugar estates, the destruction of worker's lives, the abandonment by the Government. This was in the face of the total collapse of sugar prices and the need to prevent Caroni from further draining the Treasury hence the decision to close Caroni.
Fast forward to 2014 and many of the very same ex-Caroni workers are still waiting to be compensated as was promised on the hustings of 2010. After four years of pussyfooting the people smiling all the way to the bank are a few close friends and relatives of the present government. A few million dollars could have been used to construct the feeder roads and handing-out of the promised acreage per worker.
In the main, Caroni workers were the backbone of the Partnership party. It is a painful reality being now faced to have been abandoned after they willingly gave their votes. It is an embarrassment of significant proportions to be now forming a protest march against their own government.
Lynette Joseph
Via e-mail