Roman Catholic Priest Father Clyde Harvey yesterday (Good Friday) led a group of Catholics in a silent protest around the Parliament building in Port-of-Spain, as he lashed out against the state of T&T’s politics.
The group gathered outside Parliament at the Waterfront Complex at noon.
Harvey read a letter which encapsulated that Parliament had become a “place for minding other people’s business.”
“No party has been innocent in this regard. All are guilty. All are responsible. This year Parliament may well be seen as an appropriate nominee for Good Friday Bobolee,” Harvey read.
Saying that all the country’s institutions were dying if not already dead, Harvey added that there was still hope as Easter signified a time of new beginning.
The group then walked around the Parliament building and at 12.30 pm they walked in an anti-clockwise direction. At one pm, they then faced the building and recited the Lord’s Prayer, followed by the singing of God Bless Our Nation. Harvey then led the group in front of the memorial wall bearing the names of this country’s famous athletes, where the National Anthem was sung.
On why he decided to hold the such a march, Harvey described it as a will of the “flesh” more than anything else.
“It really took flesh during mass on the Saturday before Palm Sunday when I was praying and it suddenly came to me, ‘Good Friday...Parliament building.’ From then it was a question of asking people what they thought and whether they would support it,” Harvey said.
Asked whether he believed anything would be achieved and if those holding the seat of power would actually pay attention to the action, Harvey said he intended to send them a copy of the letter.
“It’s up to them, but really I think the country is at a point now where either they grab the ball and run with it in terms of people wanting a better T&T, or they refuse to run for a better T&T and the consequences we all face,” Harvey said.
Regarding detractors who may accuse him of mixing religion and politics, Harvey said politics was a very “broad” word.
“You can start with partisan politics, which is centered on your own group and your own group’s interest, the politics which is the affairs of the city, the State is something which all of us are involved in,” he said.