ONE year after the first public consultation on statues and monuments in TT, the Port of Spain City Council has announced that the BRONZE statue of Christopher Columbus will be moved to the National Museum, and a new monument will be created to replace it. In addition to this, a section of Oxford Street will be renamed Kwame Ture Way. This was announced by the capital city's mayor Chinua Alleyne on August 1– African Emancipation Day – ahead of the annual Kambule Street Procession.

For decades, there have been debates on the statue of the infamous Italian explorer who falsely claimed to "discover" TT and massacred its original inhabitants. Some believed it should be removed entirely, some suggested the museum as is being done, and others felt its removal would be erasing history." It was even vandalised a few times in recent years – smeared with red paint and the hands removed. There is also a Columbus statue in Moruga. In 2024, the then government appointed a committee to hold public consultations on statues, monuments and signage in the country. Its members included Dr Rita Pemberton, Lawrence Arjoon, Chief Ricardo Bharath Hernandez, Annalean Inniss, Zaida Rajnauth and Kobe Sandy.

Alleyne told Newsday the decision was made at the corporation's July 30 statuatory meeting, and the statue will be removed "as soon as possible in the new financial year.