The People’s Rights to Transport and to Safety Find No Guarantee from This State

Passengers being transferred from water taxi

The People’s Rights to Transport and to Safety
Find No Guarantee from This State

The present administration has refused to accept responsibility for the total collapse of the seabridge and the hardship being experienced by the people of both islands as their Right to Reliable Transportation between the islands is absolutely disregarded.
It is now 2 full weeks that there has been no passenger ferry service on the seabridge and the spokespersons of the PNM contemptuously declare that the people of Tobago are not suffering.
Well, let the so-called representative of the people of Tobago East and the entire Cabinet and PNM party tell those 60 or so citizens who had to jump from one vessel to the other without any bridge or handrail in the middle of the ocean after 6:00 p.m. yesterday that they did not suffer.
The Transport Minister, in contemptuous and dismissive style of his Cabinet colleagues described the fire and shutting down of the water taxi as a “little mishap”.

Why Were Passengers on a Water Taxi?
Since the intermittent and then total collapse of the TT Express and the passenger ferry service, in and out of Parliament, the Transport and Finance Ministers were almost boastful in their assurances that “CAL was picking up the slack”.
As if they were guaranteeing the people’s Right to Transportation, on March 13, Sinanan told the media that “everyone booked to sail to Tobago on the TT Express would be accommodated on Caribbean Airlines until the seabridge is operational.”.
 On March 22, Imbert told the Parliament “Caribbean Airlines was able to handle all ferry passengers within its existing capacity.”
In the same Parliament meeting he confirmed the falsehood of that statement when he went on to state that “US$560,000 (about TT$3.9 million) will be spent on the Tobago airbridge until the end of April to wet-lease aircraft from LIAT.”.
If CAL could “handle all ferry passengers WITHIN ITS EXISTING CAPACITY”, why was nearly $4M being spent to wet-lease more aircraft to carry the ferry passengers?

• Why, on March 27 were ferry passengers being transported on a Water Taxi and NOT on CAL or the wet-leased LIAT aircraft at all?
• Why was this happening in March when the wet-lease is till the end of April?

Didn’t the Government assure the public that CAL was doing a magnificent job of picking up the slack?
 
The State Must Give a Guarantee to the People’s Rights
This dangerous situation created by the shut down of the water taxi last night and the absence of proper safety measures for the transfer of passengers ship-to-ship was TOTALLY UNNECESSARY.
The Government and its agencies are fully aware that Easter and Tobago Jazz are high traffic periods for passengers between the islands. Otherwise they would not have spent $4M to wet-lease an aircraft for the airbridge till the end of April.
But, despite knowing the need for more capability, in abject failure of their duty to give a guarantee to the people’s Right to Transportation and Safety, passengers were put on a water taxi instead of on the airbridge.
Despite the fact that passengers were taken back to Tobago and forced to complete their journey more that 12 hours later, the Chief Secretary and the THA have been conspicuous in their silence.
The so-called representatives of the people in the THA and in the Parliament have demonstrated their utter disregard for the rights of the people.
As the students of Parkland have been loud in declaring, in the wake of the killing of 17, it is not enough to talk, ACTION is required.
The people of both Tobago and Trinidad must stand up and say Enough is Enough.
All must demand that the state and Government give them a guarantee to their rights to Transport and Safety and take action to ensure that that is done.
 
Clyde Weatherhead
A Citizen Fighitng for Democratic Renewal
Of our Society
 
March 28, 2018