Sto­ry by BAVI­TA GOPAULCHAN

Both the cur­rent Mem­ber of Par­lia­ment for Ma­yaro, and a can­di­date from an­oth­er po­lit­i­cal par­ty hop­ing to win the seat in the up­com­ing Gen­er­al Elec­tion, agree and ad­mit that un­em­ploy­ment is one of the ma­jor is­sues af­fect­ing cit­i­zens in the con­stituen­cy.

In­cum­bent MP Rush­ton Paray ad­mits un­em­ploy­ment has been a con­cern for him, and he is hop­ing to con­tin­ue the work he has start­ed, if he is re-elect­ed as the con­stituen­cy’s Par­lia­men­tary rep­re­sen­ta­tive. He has been se­lect­ed to run again, by the Se­lec­tion Com­mit­tee for the Unit­ed Na­tion­al Con­gress.

“We have a huge un­em­ploy­ment is­sue in Ma­yaro. I think that is one of the biggest prob­lems that we have, but it is al­so con­nect­ed to a very weak busi­ness own­er­ship ra­tio,” he ex­plained. “We don’t have enough small busi­ness­es in Ma­yaro.”

Mean­while, Ster­ling Lee Ha, who is the can­di­date for the seat from the Pro­gres­sive Em­pow­er­ment Par­ty (PEP), says he has been speak­ing with res­i­dents who are fed up of be­ing de­prived of their own re­sources.

“Al­most forty-years lat­er it is the same is­sues,” he points out. “Hous­ing, as well as jobs, and watch­ing the fish­ing in­dus­try in Ma­yaro de­te­ri­o­rate over the years.”

He added: “Just like every oth­er com­mu­ni­ty in Trinidad and To­ba­go, the peo­ple here do not want your typ­i­cal ten days job. Many of those who are un­em­ployed have de­grees, and can­not get jobs com­men­su­rate with their skills and qual­i­fi­ca­tions.”

He says Ma­yaro is in des­per­ate need of ma­jor in­fra­struc­tur­al works, es­pe­cial­ly im­proved roads and drainage.

Trinidad and To­ba­go goes to the polls on Mon­day 10 Au­gust 2020.