Highway Re-route Movement (HRM) leader Dr Wayne Kublalsingh has issued another “badge of shame”, this time to the Environmental Management Authority (EMA), saying it was for awarding a certificate of environmental clearance (CEC) for construction of the Debe to Mon Desir leg of the San Fernando to Point Fortin highway project.
Kublalsingh hung a tyre with a red piece of cloth on the wooden barricade outside the EMA office, Elizabeth Street, Port-of-Spain, yesterday. There were no police officers present when he quickly hung it, spoke briefly to the media and left. He called out past EMA CEO, Dr Joth Singh, for granting the CEC while he was there. After he hung the tyre outside the EMA office he said: “His job is to protect the environment and the health of the people.
“Instead of doing that, he facilitated a CEC to facilitate the Government to embark on a course of destruction of our assets in the Treasury, of our assets in the community and they are now attacking the Judiciary.” Before the quick visit to the EMA yesterday, Kublalsingh also stood outside Prime Minister Persad-Bissessar’s St Clair office and said the HRM would resume its daily vigil He also delivered a letter reminding Persad-Bissessar about the Armstrong Report which she previously agreed to follow.
The letter stated: “We urge responsibility and transparency on the part of your government and shall await outside your office on working days between the hours of 9 am and 4 pm, with the exception of court days, until you make clear your government’s position on the Armstrong Report.”
Previous ‘badges of shame’
Earlier this month, the HRM also gave out “badges of shame” outside Housing Minister Dr Roodal Moonilal’s Debe office, Nidco’s sub-office at SS Erin Road and on two tractors at the Suchit Trace construction site for the Debe/Mon Desir leg of the highway.
In late January this year, three days after Brazilian contractor Construtora OAS moved onto the disputed Debe to Mon Desir leg of the $7.2 billion San Fernando to Point Fortin Highway, the group also hung a tyre on Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar’s Phillipine home. Kublalsingh claimed the Prime Minister was guilty of misconduct in public office for not adhering to the Armstrong Report.