All is forgiven between leader of the Highway Re-Route Movement (HRM) Dr Wayne Kublalsingh and chairman of the Independent Liberal Party (ILP) Jack Warner. Warner, who visited Kublalsingh’s camp just before 11 am yesterday, firmly held the hand of the environmental activist and offered him words of comfort. Kublalsingh and members of the HRM have set up a camp outside the Office of the Prime Minister, St Clair, in protest against the State’s decision to construct a Debe to Mon Desir segment as part of the Solomon Hochoy Highway extension into Point Fortin.
Kublalsingh completed Day 20 of his hunger strike yesterday. Warner, who said he felt good about visiting Kublalsingh, added: “I made my peace with him before but I felt I had to visit him again before he loses his senses... everything is forgiven. “I did tell him I was misguided before but now my eyes are open. When you are inside the UNC it is easy to mistake the woods for the trees.”
On seeing a gaunt-looking Kublalsingh Warner said he felt moved but did not try to persuade him to stop the strike because it was not his place to do so. “I don’t think it was prudent of me to do so because his mind is made up but I was very moved to see him in that condition. It is not easy to see someone weaken like that before your very eyes,” Warner added.
He said he intended to pay future visits to Kublalsingh but did not want them to turn into a “circus.” To help champion the HRM’s cause, Warner said, he intended to write about Kublalsingh’s struggles in the Sunshine. Kublalsingh noted that his father, Ray Kublalsingh, and Warner were very good friends. On whether he believed Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar should have an audience with the group Warner said he had nothing to say about the PM.
Stable but Critical
Another visit by Kublalsingh’s physician Dr Asante Van West-Charles-Le Blanc has proved that the environmentalist is in a critical but stable stage. Van West-Charles-Le Blanc who monitored Kublalsingh’s heart beat and tested his blood sugar said he had a very restful weakened. She added: “He maintained a stable but critical condition. I think from last Friday to now there has not been much of a deterioration. “Saturday when I examined him he was a little better than Friday because he was out from the road. “Medicine in physiology dictates that after 20 days of no food or water compensation mechanisms are eventually going to decompensate. “When I say stable but critical I am not seeing signs of impending death today but because of how long its been I do think we are at a critical point. “But I do have an ambulance on standby for him,” Van West-Charles-Le Blanc said.
She maintained there has been no decline in Kublalsingh’s mental health. Asked to compare Kublalsingh’s present condition to when he completed Day 20 of his first hunger strike Van West-Charles-Le Blanc said: “Compared to the last fast he is a lot better. I have not hydrated him, via IV drip. I basically just monitored him and I have just done some blood tests... that’s all I have done. There has been no medical intervention.”
Asked about his condition Kublalsingh said he was feeling weak and dehydrated. “I think I had a very bad weekend. My mind kept moving away from my spirit which is normally strong and I just kept thinking about a beastly cold bottle of smalta or malta and a cup of hot tea with some crix in it,” Kublalsingh added. Responding to a letter by his wife Dr Sylvia Moodie-Kublalsingh calling on Persad-Bissessar to be reasonable and let good sense prevail, Kublalsingh said he was not surprised by the letter. He said his wife was a strong Roman Catholic and was against hunger strikes.
Flashback
Warner, who was then national security minister severly criticised Kublalsingh when he embarked on the first hunger strike some two years ago. At a political meeting at the Debe High School Warner had described Kublalsingh as a conman who was attempting to blackmail the country.
He had said Persad-Bissessar would not be held responsible if Kublalsingh died. Warner said: “They say the Prime Minister is killing Wayne Kublalsingh, but he is killing himself and he better do it quickly! Don’t feel sorry for him. Kublalsingh is trying to blackmail the country and blackmail the Prime Minister.”