Ja­mal Mo­hammed, nephew of for­mer gov­ern­ment min­is­ter Ka­malud­din Mo­hammed, says he is shocked and dis­mayed over the omis­sion of his un­cle's name from this year's In­de­pen­dence Day awards cer­e­mo­ny. Ja­mal said his un­cle was for­mal­ly nom­i­nat­ed to re­ceive the na­tion's high­est award–the Or­der of the Re­pub­lic of Trinidad and To­ba­go. As far as Ja­mal was con­cerned, the nom­i­na­tion was prop­er­ly pre­pared and sub­mit­ted on time to the rel­e­vant com­mit­tee.

Ja­mal added, "These na­tion­al awards have been de­signed to recog­nise those cit­i­zens of our coun­try who have ded­i­cat­ed their lives in the ser­vice of Trinidad and To­ba­go. "If ever there was some­one who de­serves a na­tion­al award–and the high­est award, too–it must be Ka­malud­din Mo­hammed. "For over 56 years, more than half of his life, he has ded­i­cat­ed his time to the ser­vice of the peo­ple of Trinidad and To­ba­go. "By re­ject­ing his nom­i­na­tion, a num­ber of ques­tions come to mind:

�2 Was his nom­i­na­tion re­ceived and con­sid­ered by the awards com­mit­tee?

�2 If not, why not?

�2 If his nom­i­na­tion was con­sid­ered and ap­proved, was it for­ward­ed to the Prime Min­is­ter and Cab­i­net for fi­nal ap­proval?

�2 If not, why not?

�2 If his nom­i­na­tion was for­ward­ed to the Prime Min­is­ter and his Cab­i­net, was it con­sid­ered?

�2 If the Prime Min­is­ter and his Cab­i­net re­ceived the nom­i­na­tion, what pos­si­ble ra­tio­nale could there be to refuse the nom­i­na­tion?

�2 Is it true that on­ly friends of the Prime Min­is­ter and the PNM re­ceive awards?

�2 Re­mem­ber 1981? When Dr Williams died, Un­cle Ka­mal was sup­posed to be ap­point­ed Prime Min­is­ter, since he was the most-qual­i­fied and ex­pe­ri­enced Mem­ber of Par­lia­ment at the time.

�2 Un­cle Ka­mal was not ap­point­ed for rea­sons un­known to all, but un­der­stood by all. Was the same ra­tio­nale that was used in 1981 re-used in 2009 to de­ny Un­cle Ka­mal his na­tion­al award?

�2 What mes­sage are we send­ing to our younger gen­er­a­tion? Un­cle Ka­mal has giv­en his life for Trinidad and To­ba­go, yet his coun­try–Trinidad and To­ba­go–rep­re­sent­ed by the Gov­ern­ment, the State, Patrick Man­ning ad­min­is­tra­tion re­fus­es to recog­nise his con­tri­bu­tion.

�2 What else must one do to de­serve a na­tion­al award?