There seems to be a trend in T&T that whenever residents don’t get something the knee-jerk reaction is to burn tyres and obstruct the roadways. Most recently, this was seen in La Brea where residents blocked the roads in a protest against the deplorable roads and lack of jobs.
My question to these residents is, why? What did you hope to accomplish? Did you want the minister to see your plight or did you just want your faces all over the local networks in time for the news broadcast?
If that was the case then you could have also simply protested outside the minister’s office or anywhere else that would not have obstructed your fellow citizens, especially on the first school day of the year.
Is there really any point to making their day as miserable as yours? They are not the cause of your road conditions, so next time please spare them. Many of us in the country face the same deplorable road conditions, some even worse, but we don’t see the need to descend to anarchy.
To the residents complaint about jobs: again we see the typical “gimme gimme” mentality that has a hold on the majority of our citizens. Everyday there are ads for workers splattered across the newspapers. If you take a walk through Princes Town, San Fernando or Port-of-Spain many business have “workers wanted” signs. Will you apply there?
No! You expect the Government to just give you a job in your area where you get paid to basically do nothing. Are these places too far for you? Hundreds of citizens from places like Mayaro and Moruga make the journey to Port-of-Spain on a daily basis. It’s not easy but it’s a necessary sacrifice we are willing to make, so why can’t you?
It’s time you stopped behaving like children, expecting the Government to spoon-feed you everything. You made hundreds suffer on Monday so maybe it’s time you start to sacrifice a little.
Vivek Rambarran