27/06/2021
MY SUNDAY EDITORIAL
It’s been taking a while, and finally, the Cabinet has begun breaking loose of this so-called team of public health experts that has seemed to have prevailed on it these last fifteen months. During that time government has unleashed a plethora of repressive measures that has not only nearly asphyxiated us but to little or no avail given its momentous failure.
One could sense that the Prime Minister had finally overruled them in their advice and had stepped out to take the political decision in doing so. We elected the government to make good law and take right and balanced decisions on matters that most impact us. For a change the decision to open our borders is people-centered and will foster the common good of the people. There has in recent months been nothing to show for keeping our borders closed in the age of vaccines.
It’s akin a vehicle maxing out the first gear and begging a shift to the second. Putting aside the legalities of the measures inclusive of the closure of borders and the exemption system for all Caricom citizens, the early restrictions at our ports of entry were from a public health perspective understandable. In the age of vaccinations, they are plausibly not.
The dumping of the palpably illegal exemption scheme had to come if only for its contempt of treaty obligations within the Caribbean Community. That as it will be on July 17, most of the new requirements for entry into Trinidad and Tobago are well measured. However, two matters in their absence of provision disturb me as the objective observer. Firstly, there is a non national genre of fully vaccinated travelers with their foreign currency, much needed for it, that are shut out. My sister and her husband, both American citizens, are hoping to join my family for a holiday in Tobago this August. They are fully vaccinated. They will come with negative results on arrival. So why is their category kept shut out as well as all other fully vaccinated visitors needed for reviving our tourist industry?
And what about the non-Trinidadian or Tobagonian spouse and children, all fully vaccinated? Will they be left at Piarco? This lacuna in the concessions for reopening our borders needs to be addressed early.
Caribbean Airlines had shown two quarters of profitability pre-COVID-19 in 2019. This means that with some tweaking the airline can return to profitability. While I do not advocate cutting staff as part of restructuring, it can be understood if it is to address being overweighted. My advice to CAL would be to weigh traditional routes and adjust the frequency of those flights. One loaded flight is obviously more commercially viable than two half-loaded. There are new routes to gateways where there is a large Caribbean diaspora. Houston is one such destination. American airlines were expanding frequency on this route due to demand. Caribbean diaspora travelers will be a captive market for CAL. And CAL must respond to this by opening a new route into Houston. If a morning flight can be had out of Houston, an up-island connecting flight up the islands on a milk run would ensure same day arrival for Caribbean travelers.
Before the pandemic, CAL had been about to fill the void occasioned by the collapsed LIAT. That regional carrier is down to two aircraft and unlikely to recover. It means that there is likely a good available load both up island to Antigua island-hopping; and down to Trinidad and Tobago also island-hopping. Island travelers would no longer have to travel to Barbados to make on-ward connections.
CAL needs to be smart about it and run a south run in the morning out of Antigua island hopping to Trinidad and Tobago. In the evening it’s north-bound run will take up local and island traffic but be the connecting flight for diaspora travelers heading north originating out of Houston.
On the other score, only donkey reasoning can justify a difference for hazard purposes for a construction worker in either of public and private sector projects. There is no scientific or data-driven explication available and this makes no sense. I well see hundreds of construction workers in the private sector turning up on Monday morning seeking work. Just inexplicable.
My Sunday reflections for those who hold the reins.
Justice Herbert Volney
