PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad, CMC – Prime Minister Dr. Keith Rowley Wednesday defended the decision to replace the three ships of the Spanish explorer Christopher Columbus on the Trinidad and Tobago Coat of Arms and replacing them with the national instrument, the steelpan.
Addressing a special convention of the ruling People’s National Movement (PNM) earlier this month, Rowley said that the change is expected to be finalized before Republic Day on September 24, with a six-month transition period to facilitate changes to stationery and other official materials.
However, his announcement has caused division in the public domain, with some politicians, social commentators, and university lecturers indicating that it was made without proper consultation and is designed to help the government win the 2025 general election.
Speaking at the weekly post-cabinet news conference, Prime Minister Rowley defended making the original statement at a PNM convention, saying, “If the government tells party members that the government intends to do this and do that, why is it offensive?”
“They cannot do it in secret,” he added.
Opposition Leader Kamla Persad Bissessar, while acknowledging that Columbus was wrongfully celebrated for some time, said nonetheless that “sanitizing history, truth, and free speech in the modern era of wokeness, virtue signaling, and cancel culture will only promote ignorance and foster the repetition of evil acts in the future that can be preventable.”
She said erasing history by removing symbols will not improve or change citizens’ understanding of history, adding that “the nation’s true history should be taught in our schools, one that provides the good and bad of all our historical figures.”
“The truth of our past and present is bitter and harsh and should not be manipulated to serve any singular agenda. Instead, it should be used to enlighten successive generations so they will not repeat the mistakes and misdeeds of the past,” Persad Bissessar said.
But Rowley said that if a poll is conducted on Frederick Street in the heart of the capital, Port of Spain, regarding removing the three ships on the emblem, “99 percent of the people would ask me what three ships….
“The bottom line is that the government of Trinidad and Tobago, as part of our overall celebration and fixing the future of the steelpan, took that decision, and then we are accused of not consulting, and I am being accused and denounced personally by political party leaders…
“There is no way that can be done without the involvement of the Parliament. So, what is this story about the government … misbehaving?
“You know what has to be done. The Parliament has to be told what the government wants to do. It is in the Parliament that the public business is ventilated under law, and a series of laws have to be amended so that it can be properly done and Parliament does not meet in secret or in private”.
Rowley told reporters that he chaired the committee of Parliament, which ensured that the parliamentary sessions were broadcast live on television.
‘So when I say these changes will be made after the requisite adjustment, I did not have to stand here and explain to you on that occasion…that we have to amend this law…but having indicated that we intend to make the change after the requisite adjustment…it will be done in public.”
He said that when the necessary pieces of legislation are brought to Parliament, “everybody who represents anybody will have a say and a vote,” noting that on that day, government members might vote against the bills.
“It will be in the Parliament; how in God’s name you could label that as private party business,” Rowley said, dismissing allegations that the change over will cost the government millions of dollars (One TT dollar = 0.16 cents) in much-needed revenue.
He said that, just as the government did when it changed the local currency from cotton to polymer notes, the change to the emblem would be phased in. He criticized those allowed to say in the media that the “prime minister is going to spend millions of dollars…
“Straightforward, we are expecting, given the majority in the Parliament, the support for the adjustment to the coat of arms to put the pan there in that location,” he said, adding that it is not an exercise to determine what fixtures on the coat of arms should be removed or kept.
“It is particularly in the context of what we do about the steelpan, and in this case, it involves the emblem of putting the steelpan there,” Rowley said, adding that when the change is made if another government comes in and wants to return the three ships to the emblem, it would be free to use its majority in the Parliament and reverse the change.
“So stop pretending that the government is doing something so horrendous and so detrimental and so on,” Rowley said, using the news conference to criticize those who are against the government’s decision to spend an estimated TT$120 million in constructing a headquarters for the steelpan sector.
Rowley said that the building, to be located in the capital near the seafront, would also have a theater, which would allow shows to be held, particularly for tourists arriving here from ships.
He said that the government would also use the building to house some government offices in a bid to reduce the significant amount of funds spent on renting buildings.
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