Ot­to Car­ring­ton

Se­nior Re­porter

ot­to.car­ring­ton@cnc3.co.tt

Prime Min­is­ter Dr Kei­th Row­ley is not hap­py with the way so­ca artiste Neil “Iw­er” George treat­ed the Na­tion­al An­them in his 2024 re­lease Hap­py Peo­ple.

When he was asked to com­ment on the is­sue dur­ing a me­dia brief­ing at the Diplo­mat­ic Cen­tre yes­ter­day, Dr Row­ley said, “Let me take off my prime min­is­ter hat and leave my bald­head and talk to you as a fel­low cit­i­zen. Frankly, I am not ... what are verbs I should use ... I am not jump­ing up and down about the Na­tion­al An­them be­ing used that way in any ca­lyp­so.

“There is some­thing that ought to be spe­cial about your Na­tion­al An­them and the rea­son why you stand when it is be­ing sung. I don’t stand up for any hymn that is be­ing sung or any oth­er. You stand when the Na­tion­al An­them is be­ing sung for a rea­son and that gives it a pro­file and a place that no oth­er song has and on that ba­sis, I would say that the Na­tion­al An­them not be treat­ed in that way.”

For his part, Iw­er said he wants to “let the peo­ple speak” amidst con­tro­ver­sy gen­er­at­ed by the song, which he co-wrote with Ken Mar­lon Charles (KMC).

Since its re­lease last Fri­day, the song has had more than 46,000 views on YouTube.

“When the peo­ple are speak­ing, I don’t speak at the same time. The sub­ject is a hot sub­ject on so­cial me­dia, Trinidad and To­ba­go is hav­ing a dis­cus­sion, for a very long time Trinidad and To­ba­go has not had a dis­cus­sion,” Iw­er said.

“So, let them have their dis­cus­sion and when they fin­ish talk then I will speak.”

The song has drawn strong re­ac­tions for and against. Re­tired Brigadier Gen­er­al and for­mer na­tion­al se­cu­ri­ty min­is­ter Carl Al­fon­so said the use of the lyrics of the Na­tion­al An­them in the song was dis­re­spect­ful.

The is­sue has been wide­ly de­bat­ed on so­cial me­dia with memes and com­ments.

Iw­er said he would make an of­fi­cial state­ment on the song in a week.