THE EDITOR: As we commemorate another year as an independent nation let us not lose heart and hope. "Doh lose hope Trinbago."

Let us keep the dream of a stronger TT alive. Let us continue to pray and work together to build a better nation for every creed and race.

Let us endeavour to have a country where the ID card is more important than the party card and political affiliations.

Let us strive to be a nation where our sense of national pride is not limited to the successes of our sports men and women. We should always celebrate our uniqueness as a people and be proud of our dialect, our food, our culture and rich heritage.

Let us take pride in our natural resources by keeping our beaches and rivers clean. Fellow citizens who dump rubbish in our water courses, please stop this illegal and irresponsible behaviour. Yuh cud do better.

Let us demonstrate an appreciation for local goods and services, by supporting our farmers and by extension other reputable small businesses.

We have made many strides as a nation, but we have suffered and presently we are still suffering heavy losses due to corruption and crime.

Let us continue to demand integrity from our public officials and hold them to account when necessary. The working class must not bear the economic and social burden of corruption and poor governance.

Over the years the government has asked us to tighten our belts, in the same vein many citizens are calling on the government to "pull up their socks." Our politicians must seek to become better statesmen and women.

As a people let us try to have respectful and meaningful dialogue with elected officials and all who hold high office.

We are thankful to all our hard-working public servants, however, there is room for improvement within the public sector. Many citizens still dread going to some state offices to conduct business because customer service is sometimes very poor.

As a people we should all want a public service that is productive, professional, efficient, well paid and polite. Likewise, the public must exercise reasonable patience, show respect and be disciplined when interacting with public officers.

The private sector is an integral part of our society. We are grateful for their contributions. Nevertheless, private companies which have not adopted "people first" business philosophy should do so. This will go hand in hand with their objective to maximise profit. There are too many complaints about unfair treatment and unethical practices from persons employed within the private sector.

One hand cyah clap. For a nation to be strong it needs an industrious workforce. Our trade unions continue to persist in their demands for a fair day’s wage for us the working class. In turn we the working class must give a fair day’s work. Let us remember our national watch words: discipline, tolerance and production.

Trinbago a few bad apples have not spoiled the whole bunch. I salute all our diligent, god-fearing, and law-abiding citizens. Let us continue to fight against all the ills plagui