Kalipersad Seecharan, of the Jokhan Trace
Ramayan and Chowtal Group, left, receives the
winning trophy and cheque for $5,000 from Chaguanas
West MP Jack Warner at yesterday’s prize-distribution
ceremony. Photo: Adrian Boodan

Chaguanas West MP Jack Warner says the opening ceremony of the Fifth Summit of the Americas, which ended in Port-of-Spain yesterday, did not effectively highlight aspects of T&T’s Indian culture.

Warner made the comment yesterday, while delivering the feature address at a prize-distribution exercise of the Shri Krishen Chowtal Group’s chowtal singing competition, held at the Shri Krishen Mandir in Felicity. Warner said the show might have cost around $10 million, but only showcased Indian culture for five minutes. He said this was unacceptable, since the Indo-Trinidadian community accounted for around 45 per cent of the population.

He said the time might have come for legislation to be enacted to ensure that more money was spent on Indian culture. He said he did not attend the event because he was only invited 24 hours before. Warner said he planned to use his salary as an MP to award three scholarships to his constituents “preferably to the children of sugar workers.” He said two of these scholarships would be for the pursuit of degree for a period of three years at UWI, and one for the study of Indian song or dance.