Angry, disenchanted and fed-up is how several constituents of Laventille West feel about their MP Fitzgerald Hinds.
As news spread on Thursday that he had been relieved of his ministerial duties in the Ministry of Public Utilities and assigned as a Minister in the Ministry of the Attorney General and Legal Affairs, people criticised him, with some saying he should have been fired.
The Sunday Guardian visited parts of his constituency to hear how constituents felt about their MP being reassigned in the Cabinet reshuffle.
A Chinapoo Village resident said Hinds “doesn’t deliver to his people.”
Steve Roberts said after Hinds won the seat in the 2015 general election, he visited once after to express thanks.
“He never did anything for his community. That is no surprise. It should have happened long time. He deserved to get fired.”
A man who gave his name as Carlton said it was only around election time he saw Hinds. On the reshuffle, Carlton said: “You reap what you sow.”
Sitting outside a parlour, Omar Abdullah from Mapplands used some harsh words to describe Hinds. Incensed over what he said was non-performance, Abdullah said perhaps Hinds was not a favoured person.
“From handling a full ministry like a man, they put him as a helper, like a boy. If that was done to me, I was moving.”
Abdullah said Hinds was rarely seen in the area.
“Of course, we are disappointed. We have not seen him. He good do (things to) we.”
Mervyn “The Swerve” Frection said: “They should have gotten rid of him long time. I am not shocked. Only when is election you might see him.
An unidentified woman with him said the same thing.
At the Chinapoo Community Centre, Lance Ettienne said people supported Hinds “and he did nothing for them.”
Asked how he felt about the reshuffle, he said: “It was not no news to me. I know sooner or later they would have had to get rid of him because he was not doing anything. It really not making sense with Mr Hinds.
“He is not for the sufferers. He is an Englishman and needs to live in England. They give him that (previous two positions) because he win the seat.”
‘The best of all was Kamaluddin Mohammed’
Down at Pashley Street, a group of men was liming at the corner. They flew off the handle when they heard Hinds’ name.
Some used expletives and started shouting. One man said they should have thrown him out (of the Cabinet). Gregory Pierre said the only men who ever did anything for Laventille were Desmond Carty and Wilton Hinds.
“But the best of all was Kamaluddin Mohammed. Hinds? Hinds? People only voted for him because he is a PNM.”
As cars drove up and down the street, Pierre stopped them and asked about Hinds. People either scoffed, rolled their eyes or said, “Hinds is a waste” or “Hinds never do nothing for me.”
Pierre, 68, said: “The PNM does nothing for people in Laventille. They do nothing. You know how to break the cycle (voting)? Just do not vote for anybody.”
Pierre called out to a man walking into a nearby shop and asked him about Hinds.
The man replied: “I am 70 years and PNM only winning here through we ancestors.”
A man called Bunny said when he was younger his parents told him he had to vote PNM.
“I remember when I used to go an vote and my mother and father used to tell me—Aye! PNM, eh.”
A woman walking up the street said she had once approached Hinds for a house but he questioned her weave and her “big phone.”
She said: “I did not got to him for that. I went to see about my place.
“I took pictures of my place but when he come in front my door to ask about the vote, he didn’t ask me about the weave and the big phone. They had a right to demote he long time.”
An irate Lawrence Thomas, 62, did not mince words.
“We must be angry! Look at the roads. Go and drive and see where children have to walk to go to school.
“Ask the children if they have a recreation ground to play or practice. We don’t even have a court to play. We can’t get jobs.”
HINDS: IT’S PREPOSTEROUS, ABSURD
Defending himself yesterday, Hinds said any claim that he has not been seen was “absurd.”
He said: “All my parliamentary colleagues acknowledged up to yesterday (Friday) that if there was one Member of Parliament who has been very busy since we have been elected is me. I have been very, very active and busy.”
He went on to give a detailed account of some of the work carried out since 2015.
Among them—road paving, drainage work, training seminars, school competitions, football competitions, career day, repair of a 23-year-old leaking 18’’ main, self-help projects, walkabouts, and implementation of a postal service.
Hinds said: “Any suggestion that I have not been seen or active in my constituency is preposterous.”
He said the 40 people (interviewed) out of 65,000 was a joke. “That is a minuscule sample.”
He said of all the 41 constituencies there was none where constituencies will say they were happy with their MP.
He said every Tuesday he meets close to 40 people, sometimes up to 3 am.