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Tulsa Trace, San Francique resident Govin Rambally is followed by his dogs as he makes his way to collect foodstuff for his family on Tuesday. The area has been under floodwater since last Friday. – ANGELO MARCELLE

TRUDGING through muddy brown water which turned the road to his Tulsa Trace, San Francique home into a river for the last four days, 48-year-old Govin Rambally is concerned about ongoing flooding and the effect it is having on him and his family.

His concern is shared by Penal/Debe Regional Corporation chairman Dr Allen Sammy and his councillors who said they continue to be starved of funding and resources to mitigate flooding in the Penal/Debe area.

When Newsday visited Tulsa Trace on Tuesday, Rambally made a long trek in tall rubber boots through floodwaters to a nearby bridge where relatives came with bags of food and medicine to take back to his wife and two sons, ages eight and two. They were in their house towards the end of the flooded road. His family’s two dogs followed closely behind him as he sloshed through the water to reach the bridge.

Tall thick grass clogged a watercourse on either side of the bridge, creating pools of stagnant brown water which also had garbage floating in it.

Rambally’s car was parked on a piece of dry land on the other side of the bridge, because he did not want to risk it shutting down in the water if he attempted to drive home.

He has lived in Tulsa Trace his entire life.

Flooding in the area is something Rambally has become accustomed to in Tulsa Trace.

“We have flooding that was higher than this because of that river there”

As he pointed towards a nearby cluster of trees and dense bushes which were surrounded by muddy water, Rambally said the Godineau River is the major watercourse which flows through the area.

“You see the condition of it. It is really bad.”

Asked who raised the bank on the Godineau River, Rambally said, “That would be the Ministry of Works and Transport.”

The water on the road leading to his house has been there since August 26.

This house at Gopie Trace, San Francique, has been completely surrounded by water since last Friday. – ANGELO MARCELLE

Rambally said it has become routine now for the water to remain on the road for at least three days before running off. Contributing to this problem was a nearby minor river which was clogged by thick bushes and other debris.

Rambally said the corporation is responsible for that drain, but it has not been cleared for over a year.

While he can still make the trek back and forth through the water to reach his car and go to his job in San Fernando, Rambally said one of his neighbours cannot do that.

“She has to take some time off.”

Another reason Rambally parked his car near the bridge, was to be able to go and buy food and other items for his family if he needed to.

“The problem is that Monday school is starting, and how am I getting the children out through the water.”

Rambally is concerned about his eight-year-old son’s ability to go to school next week.

“If this (flooding) continues. This (water) is not going down. If the rain comes it (water) is not going to go down. I don’t know how we are going to get him out (to school).”

Rambally reiterated that the last time he saw a dry road in front of his home was August 25.

“It comes up like today, and two days, three days after, it goes down.”

He said the situation does not happen if the Godineau River does not breach its banks and if the nearby minor river is clean.

The latter, he continued, has decreased in width from 50 to ten feet because of the amount of bushes and debris in it. “Watch how the water is running inside.”

At Ramcharan Trace, an elderly resident, who declined to give his name, said half of the road had been under water for the last two days. He claimed, “A man’s car shut down in there about 5 o’clock this morning.”

The situation was the same at Gopie Trace where a nearby river had overflowed from its channel, bringing floodwaters right up to the doorstep of one house. A resident living nearby said the occupants of that house had not been there for days.

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Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley and Erica Williams-Connell, daughter of TT’s first PM Dr Eric Williams, cut the ribbon to open the Dr Eric Williams Memorial Library at Knox Street, Port of Spain on Tuesday.
Also present were Jamaica PM Andrew Holness, UWI principal Prof Rose-Marie Belle Antoine, and Chief Justice Ivor Archie.
From left, Jamaican Prime Minister Andrew Holness, the Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley , Erica Williams-Connell (daughter of Dr Eric Williams) , Udecott head Noel Garcia at rear), UWI principal Prof Rose-Marie Belle Antoine, Chief Justice Ivor Archie and others at the ribbon-cutting to open the Dr Eric Williams Memorial Library on Knox Street, Port of Spain. – SUREASH CHOLAI

The Prime Minister says The Dr Eric Williams Memorial Library is more than just a library, it is “a region being cemented.”

At the official opening of the library, home of the Eric Williams memorial collection research library, archives and museum on Knox St, Port of Spain, on Tuesday, Dr Rowley said education was important to Williams.

The guests at the opening included President Paula-Mae Weekes, Jamaica’s PM Andrew Holness, Chief Justice Ivor Archie and Senate President Christine Kangaloo.

He recalled going with his grandfather in Tobago to a talk by Williams, the country’s first PM.

Williams spoke about the potential for the next generation to do better and have opportunities the people of TT never dreamed of.

Rowley explained, as a child in Tobago, there were no streetlights, there was no school at Buccoo Point, and there were no government primary schools as they were all run by various religious organisations.

Jamaica Prime Minister Andrew Holness tours the Dr Eric Williams Memorial Library on Knox Street in Port of Spain with Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley at the opening on Tuesday. – SUREASH CHOLAI

“On this day of gratitude, on our jubilee, I can tell you our progress as a people can be most easily identified by comparing those days with the finest primary school in Tobago now in Buccoo. We’ve come a long way.”

He said he attended Mason Hall Government Primary School and was one of four students to pass the common entrance exam to attend Bishops High School, Scarborough, for free.

Now, every child was guaranteed a place in a secondary school.

Rowley said he did not plan to present himself as a candidate in the 2020 general election, but, out of concern for the people of TT, he wanted to steer them through the pandemic. He also wanted to ensure the library project was completed.

“I kept thinking that this is not about me. It is about the people of TT, and Dr Williams had sacrificed for us to understand that and we ought to be a grateful people.”

He thanked the Cabinet members who supported the financing of the project, the Udecott team, and the team of the Alma Jordan Library at UWI for making the library possible.

“This building is a historical legacy of the people of TT for all time. These walls would have heard the voices of Dr Williams and Dom Basil Matthews…

“Here is where the concept of our nation was discussed, crystallised and ideas grasped. So wherever we are, whoever we are, whatever we will become, this was the beginning of that journey.”

Erica Williams-Connell, William’s daughter, thanked Rowley for supporting the efforts of herself and UWI over the past 11 years.

She recalled placing her father’s materials into UWI’s care in 1989.

The Dr Eric Williams Memorial Library on Knox Street in Port of Spain. – SUREASH CHOLAI

The collection included over 7,000 books and journals from his personal library, his published and unpublished works, drafts of his writings, research notes, policy reports, historical documents, newspaper clippings, personal and official correspondence – from love letters to his wife, to a letter from Queen Elizabeth, – and photographs. It also included a 3D replica of his private study.

In 1999, the Eric Williams Memorial Collection was named to UNESCO’s Memory of the World register.

“The artefacts speak to a more complete picture of the man rather than the myth. They have enlivened history and challenged the intellectual capacities of the thousands of students, from the region and abroad, who have visited the museum over the years and who have offered heartfelt testimonials.

“I am convinced that it is only under the full glare of dispassionate research and investigation that Eric Williams’s true legacy would be understood and appreciated – his intellectual and political accomplishments as well as his failures.”

Williams-Connell said, Williams, from June 21, 1955 to June 14, 1956, delivered 137 public lecturers in TT, most at the “university of Woodford Square,” and 17 in other Caribbean countries, the UK and France.

She said the lectures were initially held in the building but, although there were some dissenters because of the number of people in attendance, Williams had to move to Woodford Square, which he renamed the university of Woodford Square.

Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley and Erica Williams-Connell, daughter of TT’s first PM Dr Eric Williams, cut the ribbon to open the Dr Eric Williams Memorial Library at Knox Street, Port of Spain on Tuesday.Also present were Jamaica PM Andrew Holness, UWI principal Prof Rose-Marie Belle Antoine, and Chief Justice Ivor Archie.From left, Jamaican Prime Minister Andrew Holness, the Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley , Erica Williams-Connell (daughter of Dr Eric Williams) , Udecott head Noel Garcia at rear), UWI principal Prof Rose-Marie Belle Antoine, Chief Justice Ivor Archie and others at the ribbon-cutting to open the Dr Eric Williams Memorial Library on Knox Street, Port of Spain. – SUREASH CHOLAI

She thanked the Office of the PM, Udecott, De Four Farmer and Associates, Ken Gordon, the contractors and their staff, UWI St Augustine campus principal Prof Rose-Marie Belle Antoine and all the previous principals, past and present UWI librarians, especially the late Dr Alma Jordan, and the staff at the West Indiana and Special Collections Division.

The building housing the library was constructed in 1901 as a public library on the site of the house of TT’s first British Governor, and was opened to the public in 1902.

The relocation of the contents of the research library/ archives/ museum from UWI has not yet been completed.

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