'Happy Holiday'

So, tomorrow is a public holiday on the rock. This time it's a one-off holiday celebrating 'the First Peoples.' Listening to the comments from the public I get the impression that the majority of people are lobbying for an annual holiday. If that happened then we would be up to 19 public holidays per year. With an average of 22 working days per month we will soon be there with every working person getting just short of an extra month paid vacation. We are rated the third country in the world with the most holidays, 18 in all, excluding tomorrow.

This does not include:

• Easter Tuesday for goat racing in Tobago.
• A new normal of an extra day for Labour Day celebrations.
• The random taking the day off in between, should the public holiday fall on a Thursday or Tuesday.
• The eve of any of the major religious holidays like Christmas, Eid and Divali.
• If the official day falls on a Sunday then the Monday is taken as the holiday.
• If Christmas Day falls on a Sunday then the Monday is taken as the holiday followed by Tuesday as Boxing Day.
• Friday before Carnival
• Ash Wednesday

If your company's payroll is averaging $100,000.00 per mth then your actual cost of public holidays could vary between $86,000.00 - 135,000.00 per year. This is a small company. Do the math and add what the cost is with a population with a labour force of 600,000 persons. If the average salary is $5,000.00 per mth then you are looking at a daily cost of $136.0M. At 19 official public holidays that equates to roughly $2.50BN per year in non-productive costs.
The costs shown are simple calculations with no empirical data being used.

I enjoy the public holidays and long weekends as much as everybody else. Money is spent on vacations in Tobago, fetes, additional family time, hobbies, general relaxation, paid overtime work and other areas. We must be aware, however, how much public holidays cost and not just figure it's a day off with no consequences. I smile when half way through the year people are working out how many long weekends there are next year.
Sri Lanka comes in at the top with 25 public holidays and of all places Mexico, being the least with 8 Federal holidays. Guess Mexico will not be the preferred country to migrate to for Trinis.

Every now and again you hear a call for the name of a street, public building or space or a highway to be renamed, or the removal of a statue or some other monument. As much as I understand that the majority of 'public things' have been named after persons who really have no real reason for being honoured by the 'thing' being called after them we need to be mindful of our history. Is it that we as an independent people have not built or erected enough public 'things' that we can start honoring our own? or are we sacred to recognize our own achievements?

The Beetham Highway was built and named after then Governor Edward Beetham who served between 1955-1960. He was the last Colonial Governor who presided over the transition to elected internal self government. Did he participate in any meaningful way negotiating our Independence?

The Lady Young Road was named after then Governor Hubert Young who served between 1938 - 1942.

I use these two (2) examples considering the little or no historical significance of either public figure. There were no major actions taken during the tenure of either Governor. The 'Beetham' is now known for its challenged communities and the landfill. The 'Lady Young' is popular for its look out.

It is very easy to question the naming of any thing and to discredit what was done decades ago and the importance that was placed on the person or event at that point in time. The Colonials had their criteria for the naming of monuments and public spaces. Maybe we need to establish a 'monument and public space naming committee'.

Our history started with the Amerindian tribes, then came the Spanish Colonists introducing African slaves, the French planters, the British Colonials, Chinese, Portuguese and indentured Indian labourers.
It is indeed a history, like many other countries, of wars, conquerors, enslavement, colonial rule and finally true independence and freedom. In Portugal nothing is hidden. The history is told, good, bad or indifferent. Ancient history, massacres, heads on fence posts, Roman, Arab, British, Germanic conquerors. Religious wars, enslavement, persecution, wicked royalty, modern day dictatorship, it does not matter. The history is told.

Our history did not begin in 1962. We cannot hide it, the good parts we like, the horrors we try our best to forget. No, it is what it is, and we must recognize this.

Removing a statue of Columbus will not remove Columbus from our history. Bulldozing the house of Count Lopinot will not erase slavery, not celebrating the arrival of the Fatal Razack will not stop the fact that we had indentureship. Other than the Amerindians we all came here under different circumstances. The fact is we are now here centuries after being dragged here, sailed in under our own steam or were offered a deal we thought we could not refuse only to find out things were not all that it seemed.

The history cannot be changed, it must not be forgotten nor must it be watered down.

I am happy that we are recognizing the First Peoples. I hope that the history is not distorted. I hope that finally we may have a properly curated First Peoples Museum. Considering we have tried our best to hide our history, maybe not.

Happy Holiday people, there is a lot to celebrate on the rock!

Good night and good luck!