Press Coverage: SWAHA’s 2010 Swadeshi Festival and Awards Ceremony

Loud praise for Kamla at festival, Volney hits archaic court system

Kimberly Castillo, Trinidad Express, Tuesday, June 1st 2010

Pundit Balram Persad’s declaration – ’One hundred and sixty-five years from Indentureship to Prime Ministership’ – garnered loud applause and kick-started SWAHA’s 2010 Swadeshi Festival and awards ceremony on Sunday night.

Although Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar was not in attendance at the function, which was held at the Learning Resource Centre, of the University of the West Indies, St Augustine, her rise to the office of Prime Minister was lauded by presenters throughout the duration of the programme which celebrated 165 years of East Indian presence in Trinidad and Tobago.

Guest speaker and Minister of Justice Herbert Volney commended SWAHA on the charitable and educational work carried out by the organisation and pledged his cooperation to SWAHA, the headquarters of which is in his constituency of St Joseph.

In his speech, Volney was highly critical of the criminal justice system and reiterated his reason for leaving the judiciary. He also called for the support of SWAHA and its members.

’Regrettably the criminal justice system is based on legislation enacted in the years of Queen Victoria, not Queen Elizabeth and is totally irrelevant, they produce the sort of delay that allows the bad people to terrorise the good people and I left in order to take a stand for the good people of this country,’ he said.

’I would need your support and the support of your organisation when there is pressure upon me when I bring about changes that are required.

While the night’s proceedings were punctuated with reminders of Persad-Bissessar’s success at the polls, some speakers had sobering reminders for the audience.

Director of Education, Pundit Prakash Persad emphasised that the success of the community is more important than the success of an individual. He stressed the importance of giving back to society and using one’s education to benefit the lives of others.

And in his speech, Senior Counsel Kenneth Lalla, a former head of the Public Service Commission, urged the audience to examine the legacy of the East Indian indentureship and the extent and degree of its impact on the development of Trinidad and Tobago.

’Indians should also resolve to liberate themselves from the shackles of defeatism and the psychology of subservience,’ concluded Lalla.

Help for youths

Darcel Choy, Newsday, Tuesday, June 1 2010

President of SWAHA Kelvin Ramkissoon has committed to work with the new government to eradicate poverty and to ensure the development of youth and the society at large. He was speaking at SWAHA’s Swadeshi Festival and awards ceremony at the Learning Resource Centre, University of the West Indies, St Augustine on Sunday evening.

“We will work with any government that shares the ideology that we share. We share an ideology of spiritual humanitarian and charitable work. We will partner with any government throughout our various networks, temples, our institutions, our centres and all our programmes in youth and youth development,” he said.

Spiritual Head of SWAHA, Pundit Hardeo Persad, in his address also drew reference to the new government and first woman Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar saying that time is the most powerful force around.

“When it’s a man’s time to be on top, nothing can move him, when it is time for him to fall, nothing could stop him.

When it’s time for a woman to be on top, nothing can stop her. We must do what we have to do and live by principle, no man is God and everything comes in time. We have to understand the power of time, we are all controlled by this power of time,” he said.

Persad pointed that there has been a focus on the number 24 and explained what that meant in the scriptures. Persad-Bissessar has noted the significance of the number 24, as it was on January 24 that she was elected political leader of the UNC, she was elected prime minister on May 24 and is now her 24th year as a politician. On the election hustings, she joked about the Play Whe mark in which 24 is queen.

“There are 24 manifestations and 12 is a factor of 24. There are 12 sovereign principles in the scripture and now we are celebrating 165 years of Arrival Day and when you add up the numerals, you get 12. Time has come for this situation, it is in the scriptures,” Persad explained.

He noted that proper leadership is very critical and is all about sharing the responsibility for it to benefit the country.

“Leadership is about compromise and understanding, shared responsibility. In any organisation, there are different layers of leadership, but every single layer is important, and it is critical to the growth of the organisation or the country as the case may be. Everybody’s a leader in his or her own right, without proper leadership we can’t go anywhere,” Persad said.

Senior Counsel Kenneth Lalla believes the celebration of Indian Arrival Day should also be a reflection of the trials and tribulations which East Indians were subjected to, and which they had to endure during their term of indentureship in Trinidad. Lalla said the celebrations should be a timely reminder to all to examine their history.

“We should also analyse on an ongoing basis the philosophy and the rationale and the merits and demerits of the legacy of the indentured and the extensive degree of the impact on the development on Trinidad and Tobago prior and subsequent to our independence. Indians should also resort to liberate themselves from the shackles of defeat and the psychology of subservience,” he said.