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  • 3 months ago
A second distribution of Caroni land leases under the government being led by Prime Minister Kamla Persad-BIssessar took place today.

And during the ceremony the Prime Minister acknowledged a special guest from Saudi Arabia.
Transcript
00:00I'm sorry it's taken me 22 years, but nothing comes before its time.
00:08And so for generations, the people of Karine rose before dawn.
00:14They labored beneath the blistering sun.
00:17They carried the weight of our nation's economy on their shoulders.
00:21Prime Minister Kamala Passat besets a paying tribute to the former workers
00:24of what had been the state-owned sugar company
00:27during the second Karine Least Distribution Ceremony at the Diplomatic Centre.
00:33When Karine Least was closed in 2003, thousands were left displaced
00:40and so felt disheartened.
00:44But even through 22 years of waiting, some in faith, some in quiet despair,
00:52some who did not live to see this day, their spirits never ever broke.
00:59That same courage that once crossed oceans and built communities from cane fields
01:04endured through every season of hardship.
01:08Today that long vigil ends.
01:10Legal and Land Affairs Minister Saddam Hussein made reference to the former PNM administration
01:16as he spoke about the lengthy delay in the distribution of residential leases
01:20for the lands of the former sugar company.
01:22The EMBDC, a state enterprise, was assigned under my portfolio item.
01:30And the EMBDC was in charge of developing these sites in order to distribute these lots,
01:38these residential lots to the ex-Karine workers.
01:40I am advised in the last 10 years that the EMBDC under the direction of the last government
01:49halted works on every single site and left it in a state of decay and rot.
01:57The Land Minister did not stop there.
01:59I am informed and I am advised that the EMBDC in the last 10 years
02:04spent not a dollar on one of the sites,
02:07but they spent over $100 million in legal fees
02:13to hand-pick attorneys by the last government
02:18leaving you without your lands for 22 years.
02:23The Kamla-Pisad-Pisessa government in six months
02:26are delivering over 300 leases to ex-Karine workers.
02:31During the ceremony, the Prime Minister acknowledged the presence of a special guest.
02:36The UNC later announced on its Facebook page
03:03that Prime Minister Passad-Pisessa witnessed the execution of a grant document
03:08from the government of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
03:10to the government of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago,
03:13which provides a grant of U.S. $5 million, or TT, $35 million,
03:19to the government of Trinidad and Tobago.
03:22Jewel Brown, TV6 News.
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