Category: flag

Flying the Flag in the Face of Financial Discipline

November 6, 2009 by Edmund Gall

After a few days of media speculation the Hon. Minister of Sports, Gary Hunt, has confirmed that a national flag was installed at our Hasely Crawford Stadium for a total of TT$2 million (see Trinidad Express and Trinidad Guardian stories).  This has led to much consternation on the online blogs, except the facebook pages that Minister Hunt visits (by his own words).  According to the Hon. Minister, he hasn’t been privy to any “fuss” on his constituency walkabouts either.  In other forums, such as radio chat shows, folks have claimed that in a developed country, the Minister would’ve been fired, along with those directors of SPORTT who were involved in the decision to spend tax dollars on such a preposterous attempt to bolster flagging national pride.

In my view, the Minister needs to widen his pool of online sources.  Maybe he doesn’t read the Trinidad Express online, but the response to this news story alone runs into five pages of fuss.  Also, I suggest he steps out of his constituency of Port of Spain North / St Anns West, where folks appear to be so rich that they can find no wrong in installing a $2 million-dollar flag.  These folks need to use their computers to validate the Minister's claims that the cost isn't expensive, as was done by one blogger, Henry Castillo. {Read more}