Pres­i­dent Paula-Mae Weekes says a re­spon­si­ble ap­proach is crit­i­cal and re­quired of every­one, es­pe­cial­ly hold­ers of high of­fice whose con­duct sets the tone and pat­tern for oth­ers. On this Re­pub­lic Day she is urg­ing Tem­per­ance, ci­vil­i­ty, re­spect for of­fice, and a qui­et word, which she said are all hall­marks of the wis­dom and good judge­ment ex­pect­ed of ‘big peo­ple’.

Here is the full text of her mes­sage.

Fel­low cit­i­zens,

To­day, Trinidad and To­ba­go com­mem­o­rates the achieve­ment of Re­pub­li­can sta­tus and from all in­di­ca­tions we shall soon wel­come our re­gion­al neigh­bour Bar­ba­dos in­to the fold of Caribbean coun­tries who have dared to go it alone. Re­pub­li­can sta­tus is the ul­ti­mate mile­stone in the long road to self-de­ter­mi­na­tion. In ar­riv­ing at that sig­nif­i­cant way­post on 1st Au­gust 1976, we the cit­i­zens of Trinidad and To­ba­go sig­nalled to the world our readi­ness and con­fi­dence to chart our own course and as­sume full com­mand of our des­tiny.

In­de­pen­dence, at­tained in 1962, was a man­i­fes­ta­tion of our grow­ing as­sur­ance and self-re­liance. Re­pub­li­can sta­tus was our com­ing of age at which full re­spon­si­bil­i­ty for pub­lic af­fairs was placed square­ly on the shoul­ders of the peo­ple. The Re­pub­li­can Con­sti­tu­tion cre­at­ed new and im­por­tant of­fices in­clud­ing that of Pres­i­dent, Di­rec­tor of Pub­lic Pros­e­cu­tions and Om­buds­man, as well as a num­ber of Ser­vice Com­mis­sions. We be­came au­tonomous in every way, but for our fi­nal court of ap­peal which re­mains the Privy Coun­cil. These ac­com­plish­ments ce­ment­ed Trinidad and To­ba­go’s iden­ti­ty as a sov­er­eign, adult na­tion.

Al­though we have at­tained the fig­u­ra­tive age of ma­jor­i­ty, it is crit­i­cal that we con­tin­ue to grow and de­vel­op to re­alise our po­ten­tial. Tak­ing own­er­ship of all de­ci­sions, whether good or bad, is an ex­er­cise of the ma­tu­ri­ty and sense of du­ty in­her­ent in Re­pub­li­can sta­tus. Fail­ures and mis­takes along the way are but teach­able mo­ments from which we learn to be­come bet­ter ver­sions of our­selves.

The lack of co­op­er­a­tion of a re­cal­ci­trant few with the Covid-19 pan­dem­ic guide­lines serves as a stark ex­am­ple of im­ma­tu­ri­ty and im­petu­os­i­ty in as­sum­ing the re­spon­si­bil­i­ties of na­tion­hood. Ma­ture in­di­vid­u­als make sac­ri­fices, bear mo­men­tary in­con­ve­niences and are pre­pared to for­go many fea­tures of dai­ly life such as limes, din­ing out, beach out­ings and ex­tend­ed fam­i­ly gath­er­ings. De­layed grat­i­fi­ca­tion, the abil­i­ty to post­pone an im­me­di­ate gain in favour of greater and lat­er re­ward, is a fun­da­men­tal gauge of adult­hood.

A re­spon­si­ble ap­proach is crit­i­cal and re­quired of us all, es­pe­cial­ly hold­ers of high of­fice and pro­file whose con­duct sets tone and pat­tern for oth­ers. Tem­per­ance, ci­vil­i­ty, re­spect for of­fice, and a qui­et word are all hall­marks of the wis­dom and good judge­ment ex­pect­ed of ‘big peo­ple’. Our Re­pub­li­can sta­tus em­bod­ies those qual­i­ties.

The con­fer­ment of Na­tion­al Awards recog­nis­es those in­di­vid­u­als who, in their re­spec­tive fields, ex­em­pli­fy the tenets of our Re­pub­lic, plac­ing coun­try be­fore self and mak­ing in­nu­mer­able con­tri­bu­tions and sac­ri­fices for the well­be­ing of all. Un­for­tu­nate­ly, the 2020 cer­e­mo­ny has had to be post­poned ow­ing to Covid-19 re­stric­tions but it will take place in some form, not sim­ply be­cause of con­ven­tion, but more im­por­tant­ly, be­cause of its role in in­spir­ing our cit­i­zens to em­u­late the achieve­ments of our very own ex­em­plars.

How­ev­er, even in the ab­sence of pomp and cer­e­mo­ny, we can in­di­vid­u­al­ly bring to mind and salute those cit­i­zens whom we know and know of that have made, and con­tin­ue to make, sig­nif­i­cant con­tri­bu­tions to our na­tion­al well­be­ing, es­pe­cial­ly at this time, health­care and oth­er es­sen­tial work­ers. They have been at it non-stop since Feb­ru­ary in true and faith­ful ser­vice to the na­tion and this we know at great cost to them­selves, phys­i­cal­ly, fi­nan­cial­ly and psy­cho­log­i­cal­ly.

Com­ing-of-age cel­e­bra­tions are de rigeur, but the cel­e­brants un­der­stand that it is the end of one phase, and more im­por­tant­ly, the be­gin­ning of an­oth­er—one which in­volves con­tin­u­ous de­vel­op­ment and learn­ing, mak­ing wise choic­es, ex­er­cis­ing self-con­trol and prac­tis­ing self-de­nial when nec­es­sary. In the con­text of a na­tion, the ex­pec­ta­tions are not much dif­fer­ent, save for the fact that we look to the col­lec­tive for these in­di­ca­tions and to do that, let us look in the mir­ror.

Full and con­sis­tent par­tic­i­pa­tion in the ever-evolv­ing process of na­tion-build­ing is re­quired to se­cure a bright, re­silient and pros­per­ous fu­ture for our­selves and gen­er­a­tions to come.

I ex­tend sin­cere wish­es to my fel­low cit­i­zens of the Re­pub­lic of Trinidad and To­ba­go for a safe, hap­py and healthy Re­pub­lic Day.