Every cit­i­zen in this coun­try is aware of the in­ci­dent that took place on Feb­ru­ary 24, 2013 as it was very well chron­i­cled by all the lo­cal news­pa­pers and on na­tion­al tele­vi­sion. That in­ci­dent caused the Prime Min­is­ter and some mem­bers of her cab­i­net, mem­bers of par­lia­ment, and top rank­ing po­lice of­fi­cers to vis­it Sea Lots.

Promis­es were made to this com­mu­ni­ty, and so far it seems every­thing is mov­ing at a snail's pace. Now we have an­oth­er in­ci­dent that oc­curred in the area this month, which in­volved a mo­tor­cy­clist strik­ing a moth­er and her two daugh­ters, all be­cause the walk­way was not com­plet­ed for that com­mu­ni­ty.

Gov­ern­ment min­is­ters have said open­ly, dur­ing cer­e­monies of re­fur­bish­ing com­mu­ni­ty cen­tres, that the Gov­ern­ment has no mon­ey, it be­longs to the peo­ple. There­fore, Gov­ern­ment min­is­ters should vis­it Sea Lots, let the com­mu­ni­ty know that the mon­ey be­longs to them and build the walk­way for that com­mu­ni­ty, as they are in­clud­ed just like all the oth­er com­mu­ni­ties in T&T.

Then here comes the for­mer Na­tion­al Se­cu­ri­ty Gov­ern­ment Min­is­ter who was caught in an off­side trap, and still try­ing to score goals from out­side the box, mak­ing an of­fer to build or fin­ish the walk­way with his own mon­ey. What is he try­ing to do? Is he try­ing to make amends to a com­mu­ni­ty that he nev­er cared about dur­ing the time he was a min­is­ter. Even though Sea Lots area was not his con­stituen­cy, he was in a po­si­tion to as­sist but he did not. I smell some­thing fun­ny about the of­fer, maybe it is in Sea Lots.

Let me be very clear here, there was al­ways a huge gap be­tween all for­mer gov­ern­ments, the gov­ern­ment of the day and the Sea Lots com­mu­ni­ty, be it per­son­nel, or ne­glect, and that is a mis­take which must be cor­rect­ed.The gov­ern­ment of the day must em­brace Sea Lots as a com­mu­ni­ty in T&T and not aban­don them.

The com­mu­ni­ty mem­bers of Sea Lots should be re­lo­cat­ed in­to oth­er com­mu­ni­ties, and we must be very care­ful not to dis­crim­i­nate and place them in one com­mu­ni­ty. They must be giv­en their own prop­er in­stru­ments to ac­com­plish their hopes and dreams to at­tain a bet­ter lifestyle, as there are many am­bi­tious, tal­ent­ed res­i­dents in that com­mu­ni­ty that need the op­por­tu­ni­ty.

Sel­wyn By­er

St James