分类： politics

On a historic visit to a small island off the coast of Trinidad that holds deep meaning for the nation’s Indo-Trinidadian community, Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar has formally unveiled plans to rename Nelson Island, a landmark forever tied to the arrival of more than 140,000 Indian indentured labourers between 1845 and 1917. The announcement, made alongside India’s Minister of External Affairs Dr Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, frames the renaming as a long-overdue act of historical reclamation that centers the stories of the people who gave the site its enduring cultural significance, rather than the colonial figures for which it was originally named.

Persad-Bissessar emphasized that the island is far more than a geographic landmark: for descendants of indentured labourers, it is the sacred first touchpoint of their ancestors’ journey across the Kala Pani, the dark waters of the Atlantic that separated workers from their home country. The Prime Minister’s own family history is intertwined with this legacy; her maternal great-grandmother, 16-year-old Sumaria Seepersad, arrived at the island from Madras in the 1880s speaking only Bhojpuri, and went on to toil on south Trinidad’s sugarcane estates after being widowed young. “I do not believe Sumaria could ever have imagined that one day, upon the very shores where she first arrived, her great-granddaughter Kamla would stand as Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago,” Persad-Bissessar told the gathered crowd.

In her remarks, the Prime Minister drew a clear line between the injustices of indentureship and the transatlantic slave trade that preceded it, calling the system a deliberate form of human trafficking designed to prop up the British colonial economy after emancipation. “Indentureship was a form of human trafficking, bearing many of the same labour controls, abuse and humiliation of the transatlantic slave trade that preceded it,” she said. Workers endured a grueling three-month voyage, often signed contracts they could not understand, and faced harsh, exploitative conditions on sugar plantations across the country. Despite this, Persad-Bissessar celebrated the resilience of the labourers, who built community and persevered through hardship out of hope for a better future for their descendants.

Addressing the once-pejorative term “coolie” used to describe indentured labourers, a label that is still sometimes used against people of Indian descent today, Persad-Bissessar rejected any shame associated with the term. “I feel no shame at that. We were coolies, and I said the other day, it took a little coolie girl from a place down in Siparia to become the Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago,” she said, drawing loud applause from attendees including government ministers and members of the Indian delegation.

To guide the renaming process, Persad-Bissessar announced that a cross-institutional committee led by Natasha Barrow, Permanent Secretary in the Office of the Prime Minister, in partnership with the National Trust of Trinidad and Tobago, will oversee the project. A public-facing website will also be launched to collect name suggestions from communities across the country, making the renaming a collective, public-led process.

Following the announcement, Persad-Bissessar and Jaishankar unveiled a commemorative plaque on the island to mark the occasion. The visit was the first of three official engagements for the day, which also included the launch of a new agro-processing facility at Brechin Castle and a national prosthetics center in Penal.

Persad-Bissessar framed the renaming as part of a broader global movement of post-colonial self-definition, pointing to India’s renaming of colonial-era cities such as Bombay to Mumbai, Madras to Chennai, and Calcutta to Kolkata as a precedent. “Such changes reflect historical reclamation, cultural dignity, and national self-definition by a free people,” she noted. She added that Trinidad and Tobago has a long history of renaming colonial sites after independence, from renaming King George V Park to Nelson Mandela Park to rebranding streets after national cultural icons including Janelle “Penny” Commissiong, Black Stalin, and Lord Kitchener.

While the island’s legacy is most closely tied to Indian indentured labour, Persad-Bissessar also acknowledged its layered history: under British colonial rule, enslaved Africans were forced to build military fortifications on the site, and the name “Nelson Island” itself is derived from Thomas Neilsen, a British doctor who took ownership of the land after it was originally called Stephenson’s Island. The island also holds other important chapters of national history: in the 1930s, Jewish refugees fleeing Nazi Germany were detained on the island, and prominent 20th century labour leaders Tubal Uriah “Buzz” Butler and George Weekes were once imprisoned there. Still, Persad-Bissessar argued, the island’s core identity is shaped by the tens of thousands of indentured labourers who first stepped onto its shores on their journey to building new lives in the Caribbean, and that identity deserves to be permanently enshrined in its name.

An ongoing investigation into alleged bid-rigging and contract collusion within Trinidad and Tobago’s suspended $3.4 billion national housing program has taken an unexpected turn, after an intermediary claiming to represent a senior Housing Development Corporation (HDC) official under scrutiny offered a cash compensation bribe to the *Sunday Express* in exchange for scrapping the investigative story.

The meeting took place last Thursday on Ariapita Avenue in Woodbrook, with the intermediary — a well-connected figure with deep ties to local political circles — laying out a clear quid pro quo for the newsroom’s investigative team. If the outlet agreed to kill the story about the alleged collusion, the journalist behind the investigation would receive financial compensation, plus access to a cache of internal documents detailing claims of mismanagement that occurred at HDC during the previous People’s National Movement (PNM) administration.

“Bringing this kind of negative light on the HDC at this time is not what they want,” the 6-foot-tall intermediary told *Sunday Express* reporters. When pressed for clarification on the offer, he repeated the terms: dropping all coverage of the collusion allegations would result in the payout, plus additional documented scoops on other HDC controversies.

The *Sunday Express* immediately rejected the bribe offer, noting that the contract awarding process under investigation is a matter of significant public interest, given the multi-billion-dollar scale of the housing program and the public funds allocated to it.

The attempt at hush money came after the newspaper had spent the preceding week reaching out to the implicated HDC official and the two private contractors awarded the contested contracts, in response to formal complaints of collusion filed by whistleblowers. The intermediary first contacted the newsroom on Wednesday morning, the day before the in-person meeting, claiming the official was open to negotiating a discussion about the contract controversy. Since the bribe offer was made, the story has moved forward with new developments from the contractors involved.

Within 24 hours of the meeting, Chaguanas-based attorney Denelle S Singh submitted a pre-action protocol letter to the *Sunday Express* on behalf of one contractor and his firm. The letter denied all collusion allegations and threatened immediate legal action if the contractor’s name is published in any upcoming coverage.

The second contractor, who secured one of the multi-million-dollar HDC contracts under investigation, initially spoke briefly with the *Sunday Express* last Tuesday, before submitting a detailed formal response via WhatsApp late Friday evening. In his statement, the contractor emphasized that his company is barred from disclosing confidential client arrangements, commercial terms, or project-specific details unless required by law or explicitly authorized by involved parties.

He firmly denied that his company has ever engaged in collusion with any HDC official related to housing projects in Freeport or any other location across the country, adding that all of the firm’s construction work has always been carried out in strict compliance with legal contractual and commercial standards. When asked directly about any personal or improper business relationship between his firm and the implicated HDC official, the contractor brushed the question aside, noting that like all construction firms operating in the country, his company interacts with dozens of industry stakeholders and public officials as part of routine commercial activity.

“[Company name] has provided construction, renovation, and related contracting services for numerous commercial entities over time,” he said in response to questions about whether the firm had ever done work for businesses owned by the HDC official. “As a matter of company policy, we generally do not publicly disclose confidential client relationships, commercial arrangements, or project-specific details unless legally required to do so or authorised by the relevant parties. Any services provided by the company, where applicable, would have constituted legitimate commercial construction services performed at arm’s length and in the ordinary course of business.”

The contractor “firmly and unequivocally” rejected all allegations, suggestions, or implications of collusion, noting that the company maintains a strict zero-tolerance policy toward bribery, corruption, and all forms of unethical business conduct. When asked about his relationship with the other contractor awarded a contested multi-million-dollar HDC contract, he repeated his policy of not disclosing confidential commercial arrangements, adding that the company has always acted properly, professionally, and in full compliance with the law throughout the entire contracting process for the HDC project.

“We complied with the applicable procurement, tendering, and submission requirements as communicated by the relevant authorities,” he said. “We remain confident that our experience, technical capability, operational capacity, and performance record qualified us to participate in and be considered for such opportunities.”

The $3.4 billion national housing program at the center of the allegations has already been suspended by authorities, and the bribery attempt has intensified questions about transparency and accountability in public infrastructure contracting across Trinidad and Tobago. The *Sunday Express* has confirmed it will continue its investigation into the collusion allegations, despite the bribe attempt and pending legal threat.

A corruption and conflict of interest scandal has thrown Trinidad and Tobago’s massive $3.4 billion public housing programme into limbo, after a whistleblower complaint prompted regulators to order an immediate halt to newly awarded contracts. The case centers on a senior official at the country’s Housing Development Corporation (HDC), who is alleged to have long-standing personal and private business ties to two of the 11 contractors that secured shares of the multi-billion public works package.

Shortly after the HDC announced the list of winning contractors for the public-private partnership programme in early April, the Office of Procurement Regulation (OPR) received multiple formal and informal complaints. Acting on these submissions — which included a formal complaint filed on behalf of activist Wendell Eversley by attorney Randall Mitchell — the regulator ordered the state-owned housing agency to suspend all programme activities pending a full, independent review of the entire bidding and award process.

Multiple independent sources with direct knowledge of the award process and the ongoing investigation have confirmed to local outlet the Sunday Express that the ties between the HDC official and the two contractors date back roughly a decade. The first contractor, a prominent local businessman who owns a popular chain of retail stores, previously purchased an entire chain of businesses from the HDC official. While the businessman’s company currently holds contracts with another state entity, multiple sources confirmed it has never led a large-scale residential construction project before this award.

Records indicate the second contractor also shares a long personal and professional history with the HDC official. Around 10 years ago, the two partnered on a private housing development in Trinidad’s Freeport area, and the HDC official previously hired the second contractor to complete renovation and repair work on multiple commercial properties across the country. The second contractor also has well-documented business ties to the first contractor, and has assisted in constructing several of the first contractor’s commercial buildings over the years. Sources familiar with the investigation confirm these overlapping relationships will be a core focus of the OPR’s review.

Public concerns about the integrity of the procurement process were first raised by opposition People’s National Movement (PNM) officials, including Member of Parliament Camille Robinson-Regis and former prime minister Stuart Young. Young publicly questioned the qualifications of multiple winning firms, noting that many of the awarded companies have little to no prior experience delivering large-scale housing construction projects. A check of the Ministry of Land and Legal Affairs’ Companies Registry Online System confirmed all winning companies have been legally registered in the country for multiple years, though that verification does not address their industry experience.

When contacted for comment last Friday, HDC chairman Feeroz Khan declined to speak on the record about the allegations. “Given that the matters relating to the procurement process in question are currently engaging the attention of the Office of the Procurement Regulation, Senior Counsel has advised that the matter is sub judice, and hence it would be improper to comment on same,” Khan said.

As Trinidad and Tobago Police Service (TTPS) Commissioner Allister Guevarro approaches his one-year anniversary in the top law enforcement role next month, Homeland Security Minister Roger Alexander is opening the door for public and peer input on his tenure — declining to share his own personal rating ahead of the broader feedback period.

Alexander made the announcement during the TTPS’s 103rd annual Sports and Family Day, held Tuesday at St James Barracks, where reporters pressed him for his assessment of Guevarro’s leadership and what areas may need improvement. Guevarro and several senior TTPS deputies, including Junior Benjamin and Suzette Martin, were in attendance during the media interaction.

When asked to weigh in on Guevarro’s leadership of the national police force, Alexander pushed back on framing policing performance as a one-person responsibility. “It’s a team effort and not an individual effort. For the team effort, I have total confidence in the Trinidad and Tobago Police Service, from where I came from,” he told reporters.

The conversation also turned to longstanding public demands for mandatory body-worn cameras for frontline patrol officers, a policy widely cited as a tool to boost transparency and police accountability. While Alexander confirmed the government and TTPS do not oppose the adoption of body cameras, he said outfitting officers with life-saving protective gear is the immediate priority, given the rising danger facing law enforcement in the country.

“At this time, I have decided to protect law enforcement first by giving them the requisite protection gear so they can better protect you as citizens and this nation as a whole,” he explained. Pointing to the increasingly heavy firepower used by criminal actors, including 7.62mm and 5.56mm ammunition, Alexander questioned whether the public should prioritize recording equipment over officer safety: “What do you want? Do you want a man to be confident enough to take on these persons or do you want him to tape it with all the requisite equipment?”

After reporters reiterated the role of body cameras in ensuring transparency and accountability, Alexander shifted the conversation to what he called the deeper root causes of violent crime in the country: systemic failures in family and community upbringing. He argued that public discourse too often focuses exclusively on police performance, while ignoring the role of family members who harbor violent criminals and fail to intervene in harmful behavior early on.

“Why this conversation is not with the parenting aspect of this?” he asked. “Greater attention must be paid to family structures, community influence and early intervention in schools. We often question police officers, but less focus is placed on parents and grandparents, and on the fathers and them who are shooting persons, killing young children and then going to sleep and hugging up their children.”

Alexander added that even during the event, there are families across the country turning a blind eye to the criminal activity of their relatives: “Right now, while we’re speaking here, there’s someone — a grandmother, a mother, somebody — looking out the window to see when the police is coming because their criminal son is lying on the bed. He’s sleeping because he was out all night.”

To address these root causes, the minister confirmed the government is rolling out a new, multi-stakeholder psychosocial intervention initiative focused on crime prevention, a strategy the administration says is unprecedented in Trinidad and Tobago. A dedicated intervention team will work directly in schools and local communities to address harmful patterns early, partnering with criminologists, psychologists, parent-teacher associations, and faith leaders to implement preventive measures.

“At this time, the police have a psychosocial intervention team that we are putting together to enter the schools, to enter the community… Things that were never done before, because we understand prevention is the first stage,” Alexander said. “We have a wide range of professionals and community leaders coming on board because they understand prevention is better than cure.”

On the first day of Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, India’s Minister of External Affairs, official two-day visit to Trinidad and Tobago, the two nations took a meaningful step toward honoring a shared, painful historical legacy on Nelson Island, a small Caribbean landmass etched deep into the history of Indo-Trinidadian communities.

During a waterfront ceremony that began with an early-morning water taxi journey from Port of Spain, Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar of Trinidad and Tobago made a major announcement: a specialized oversight committee has been formed to guide the renaming of Nelson Island, a project rooted in reckoning with the island’s role in the system of East Indian indentureship. Spearheaded by Natasha Barrow, Permanent Secretary in the Office of the Prime Minister, the committee will work in close partnership with the National Trust of Trinidad and Tobago to steer the process forward. In a deliberate move to center public voice in the historical reclamation project, Persad-Bissessar emphasized that the renaming process will be open and inclusive, with all citizens invited to submit name proposals and recommendations for consideration.

Addressing attendees alongside Jaishankar, Persad-Bissessar offered a blunt recharacterization of the 19th and early 20th century indentureship system, framing it as a deliberate form of human trafficking created to prop up the economic interests of the British Empire after the abolition of chattel slavery. She noted that the indentured laborers who arrived on these shores brought no financial wealth or formal guarantees, but carried with them unshakable religious devotion and cultural resilience that would go on to shape modern Trinidadian and Tobagonian society.

The centerpiece of the day’s events was the unveiling of a commemorative plaque, dedicated to honoring the enduring legacy and immeasurable sacrifices of the thousands of indentured workers who passed through the island. Following the plaque unveiling, Jaishankar announced a landmark commitment: the Government of India will provide a financial grant to support conservation and infrastructure upgrades to transform Nelson Island into a fully accessible, internationally recognized heritage site.

In comments given to the Express on the sidelines of the ceremony, Jaishankar called his first day in the country “splendid”, and highlighted the enormous untapped potential for deepening bilateral cooperation between India and Trinidad and Tobago. He noted that growing ties between the two nations will deliver shared benefits for citizens of both countries in the years ahead.

For context, Nelson Island carries unmatched historical weight for Trinidad and Tobago. Records from the National Trust of Trinidad and Tobago confirm that between 1866 and 1917, more than 114,000 indentured Indian laborers were processed through Nelson Island and the adjacent Five Islands. Upon arrival, workers had their identity documents verified, personal details including name, birthplace and religion recorded, before being dispersed to sugarcane, cocoa and coconut plantations across Trinidad to begin their contracted labor. The island also functioned as an assembly and repatriation hub until 1936, serving workers who completed their contracts and chose to return to India.

Jaishankar’s visit to Trinidad and Tobago is part of a wider 9-day regional tour that includes stops in Jamaica, Suriname and Trinidad and Tobago from May 2 to 10, where he will hold high-level discussions focused on strengthening bilateral ties and addressing regional and global issues of shared concern. On the second day of his stop in Trinidad and Tobago, Jaishankar is scheduled to lead the ribbon-cutting for a new agro-processing facility at Namdevco in Brechin Castle, Couva, followed by the official launch of a national prosthetics programme in Penal, where Prime Minister Persad-Bissessar will deliver the keynote address and unveil a second commemorative plaque.