Leader of the Opposition Dr Keith Rowley says last year was a particularly challenging for the nation socially, politically and economically. In his New Year’s message, Rowley said citizens faced those challenges without seeing them as being insurmountable. He said citizens had not lost hope that the country had the capacity to do better in all respects. He said the new year was decision year for the citizens.
“The dawn of 2015 is even more significant for the people of T&T as it is the year of decision. It is our opportunity to examine where we are, what we are faced with and whether we would choose a better option to positively alter our circumstances,” he said. That was an apparent reference to the calling of general elections, constitutionally due by September of this year.
Rowley said while the power of choice was great indeed, it would be citizens’ choices that would determine how their lives evolved. He said the choice citizens made this year would impact greatly the nation’s future. He called on citizens “to take responsibility for our nation’s future development and well being as we welcome 2015.”
Such action, he said, should be taken by citizens regardless of their geographic location or other differences. He said while “we acknowledge 2015 as a year of “great challenge it is also a year of great possibilities.”
Tourism sector critical
Chief Secretary of the Tobago House of Assembly Orville London said most citizens were welcoming 2015 with mixed emotions. In his New Year’s message yesterday, London said 2015 arrived during a period of financial and political uncertainty. He said it was time for “sober reflection, clinical evaluation and decisive action, at every level and in every sector.”
London said it was time to strive for balance. “The leaders must strive for balance between fuelling unrealistic expectations and fostering unnecessary panic. The business sector has to achieve the balance between maximising profit and stimulating sustainable growth,” London added.
London said the challenges facing the country in 2015 provides “an opportunity for us, as an island and a country, to rekindle that spirit and to display the qualities, which have propelled us to a preeminent position in the region.” According to London, 2014 was a very good year for the people of Tobago in many respects, including a “signalled increased optimism in the tourism sector.” He said there was also encouraging growth in the traditional markets of the United Kingdom and Germany.
London said the cruise ship season has started and he anticipates an increase from 15,000 visitors in 2014 to 60,000. “The importance of the tourism sector has become even more critical, in light of the present challenges in the energy sector,” London said. He said all leaders must now put the island above their self-interest and ensure there was a proper system of internal self-government for Tobago.
Economic survival vital
New leader of the National Joint Action Committee (NJAC) Kwasi Mutema says the new year, 2015 brings citizens to a new economic reality that “could force us to reverse that process by looking inward.” In his first New Year message since being elected recently, Mutema said the economic reality could also force citizens to seek “new impetus for our economic survival as well as rediscovering deeper values for building our nationhood and human existence.”
Mutema said this year can be very challenging because of declining oil and natural gas prices internationally, which can be a blessing or a curse for this nation. He said with the oil boom in this country in the 1970’s there was an increase in the standard of living but also a decrease in the quality of life. “We became more consumed by materialism and less caring as a society,” he added.
He called for certain values and principles to be adopted in this new year, including greater love and protection of the nation’s children, guidance to youths, elevation of women and the building of stronger family units.