THE EDITOR: The legendary calypsonian Black Stalin, in one of his memorable songs, said “Blackman doh get nothing easy.” The lyrics of this great calypso aptly describe the current predicament of government minister Foster Cummings, given an unfair and I dare say absurd newspaper editorial under the heading “Explosive land issue.”
I live in the La Horquetta/Talparo constituency and can testify that Cummings is doing an excellent job so far, given his enormous task and the battles he encounters because of the stigma attached to the La Horquetta community.
The most amazing aspect of this dubious editorial is the statement, “It matters not whether Pical [Services Ltd] occupation of these lands precedes his entry into politics.”
That statement implies that Cummings should have never occupied the land for his family’s business to function. Is it that as a black man he had absolutely no rights to operate on Caroni (1975) Ltd lands?
Cummings did the honourable thing and retired from the business once he became a government minister and for this he is vilified by the Opposition and the newspaper.
In this country once you hold public office your private life is likely to be all over the place. But it is only the PNM people who are thoroughly scrutinised because the population holds the party to a higher standard than any other political organisation.
Can the newspaper that wants to dig deeper into Cummings’s business also provide information on other businesses that now occupy Caroni Ltd lands?
It can also check if any members of the Opposition are associated with any of those companies since the UNC-led government was in power.
We in La Horquetta urge our MP to continue representing his constituents and to ignore the political agenda of certain elements in the media.
TRACY HERNANDEZ
La Horquetta
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