Rhondor Dowlat
The achievements of T&T’s sporting athletes, including Paralympian Akeem Stewart and the T&T 4x400 metres World Championship relay team, have been highly recognised by President Anthony Carmona and described as a “timeless and timely” Independence Day gift to the country on its 55th anniversary.
In his Independence Day message to the nation, Carmona saluted the athletes’ remarkable achievements, together with the recent astounding victory of the West Indies cricket team against England.
“These athletes have all become our lightning rods in our social and human darkness. This imposing display of youth success and prowess on the international stage is a timeless and timely gift to a nation celebrating Independence. Our athletes deserve nothing less than the best in good times and in bad times and our patriotism demands that we must never be fair-weathered supporters,” Carmona said.
Carmona also seized the opportunity to make a call to protect T&T’s national flora and fauna, especially the national birds – the Scarlet Ibis and the Cocrico. He said there must be no compromise in the fight to protect the Scarlet Ibis, which now seem to be facing extinction in the wake of recent reports that poachers are now targeting the birds.
“Ours is a country therefore, that must guard against starving ourselves of the fundamentals of patriotism. Patriotism has a formidable utility. It is the driving force of a country’s character and a nation’s conscience,” Carmona said.
“Occasions such as Independence afford us the opportunity to recall and renew our individual and collective patriotism to our nation’s watch words, Discipline, Production, Tolerance. They mandate us to take stock of ourselves; that we must reach for a higher morality that triggers compassion, mercy and forgiveness; of a work ethic that works; of a rejection of social, political and economic hostility.”
He said citizens must strive for excellence and must cultivate hope to “overcome all adversities as a nation and further foster a national consciousness that makes us believe that great things are possible, even for as tiny a nation state as this great nation.”
“In our 55 years of Independence, we have been able to establish and maintain democratic processes and institutions, a buoyant educational system girth by the regional institution, the University of the West Indies (UWI) and the magic of great sporting achievements,” Carmona said.
“On behalf of my wife Reema, children Christian and Anura and on my own behalf, I wish the Republic of T&T a happy Independence and may Almighty God bless us all.”