Guyana salutes T&T on 64th Independence

President Dr Irfaan Ali has extended congratulations to the Government and people of Trinidad and Tobago on the country’s 64th Anniversary of Independence. In a message posted on his social media page, Ali, on behalf of the Government and people of Guyana, conveyed best wishes to Trinidad and Tobago as it marks the national milestone. “Guyana and Trinidad and Tobago share deep bonds of friendship, history and regional solidarity,” the President said. He noted that Guyana joins Trinidad and Tobago in celebrating its achievements and expressed wishes for the country’s continued peace, prosperity and progress.

“Happy 64th Independence Anniversary, Trinidad and Tobago!” Ali said. Meanwhile, the T&T Guardian reported that Prime Minister (PM) Kamla Persad-Bissessar in her Independence Day message posted on social media on Sunday, said Trinidad and Tobago’s former colonial powers left the country in 1962 as a “very prosperous functioning country,” arguing that its post-independence shortcomings should no longer be blamed on its colonial past. “After 64 years, it’s time we grow up and stop blaming our problems on our colonial past to escape accepting responsibility for bad decisions we made post-independence that have resulted in negative consequences for ourselves and our nation,” she is quoted as saying in the T&T Guardian report. In her message, Persad-Bissessar pointed to Trinidad and Tobago’s economic position at Independence as evidence of the country’s strong starting point. She noted that when Trinidad and Tobago became independent, it had a “higher per capita income level” than countries such as Japan, Chile, Greece, Spain, Singapore, Portugal, Mexico, Turkey, Iraq, Brazil, Malaysia, Iran and China. Now, she says, those nations have “superseded us.”