After a two-hour meeting with President Anthony Carmona, members of the Project 40 lobby group say they are waiting for him to meet with his advisers before responding to them. Three members of the group—Gerry Williams, Khalil Hassanali and Alyssa Rostant—met with Carmona at President’s House from 12.30 pm to 2.30 pm yesterday. They refused to speculate on whether Carmona could or could not step in and end the impasse between hunger striker Dr Wayne Kublalsingh and the Government over the Debe to Mon Desir portion of the extension of the Solomon Hochoy Highway to Point Fortin.
However, they said, they were heartened by the fact that the President gave them an audience. The group is calling for mediation to resolve the situation. Project 40 began a “relay fast” in support of Kublalsingh with its 40 members taking turns fasting for a day. In a subsequent media release yesterday, Project 40 urged Carmona to respond by Friday. The release also said the group believed Carmona was “receptive” to its call, “in particular its petition that he stands by the principle of ethical leadership for T&T which he has often advocated in the public sphere.”
The group told the media it planned to deliver the same petition to Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar. “While disappointed that the meeting did not yield the definitive result they had hoped for, Project 40 anticipates that (the President) understands the urgency of the situation,” the release noted. Project 40 said “with a growing mass of citizens becoming increasingly frustrated and the life of Dr Kublalsingh hanging in the balance,” it was waiting “in good faith for a forthcoming response from the President.”