Beckles questions Govt’s handling of new Coat of Arms

Op­po­si­tion Leader Pen­ne­lope Beck­les has ques­tioned the Gov­ern­ment’s han­dling of Trinidad and To­ba­go’s re­designed Coat of Arms, say­ing a change al­ready leg­is­lat­ed now sits in “ad­min­is­tra­tive lim­bo.”

Beck­les raised the is­sue in a World Steel­pan Day mes­sage, not­ing the re­designed Coat of Arms re­placed the three ships as­so­ci­at­ed with Christo­pher Colum­bus with a gold steel­pan and pan­sticks. “We must ask whether the Gov­ern­ment is treat­ing our na­tion­al sym­bols and our pan fra­ter­ni­ty with the se­ri­ous­ness they de­serve,” Beck­les asked.

She said the Gov­ern­ment has ex­tend­ed the life of the old Coat of Arms un­til Jan­u­ary 2, 2031, mean­ing Gov­ern­ment build­ings, pass­ports and of­fi­cial cor­re­spon­dence have re­vert­ed to the old em­blem.

She al­so called for greater in­clu­sion of steel­pan in the ed­u­ca­tion cur­ricu­lum and con­tin­ued in­vest­ment in pa­n­yards as com­mu­ni­ty hubs.

Beck­les said the steel­pan, born from Trinidad and To­ba­go’s his­to­ry of re­sis­tance and cre­ativ­i­ty, rep­re­sents the coun­try’s in­ge­nu­ity, re­silience and iden­ti­ty.

“For in­deed, Kitch said it best: ‘Is de pan in me,’” Beck­les said.