Kuei Tung: I'll make jail for pan

September 4, 2000

FINANCE MINISTER Brian Kuei Tung has said that police will have to lock him up, if they keep finding ways to stop steelbands from playing on the road at times like Independence night.

Speaking to the Express in the presence of Education Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar at an impromptu roadside interview on Friday night, Kuei Tung said he was fed up with the attitude of police who seem to be looking for ways to keep pan off the road. The will have to lock me up. I could take a jail for pan.

If they keep this up, pretty soon there will be no occasion on which pan could play on the streets, including Jouvert, he said. I don't know since when police come out to lock up people who are not disturbing anyone and only having a good time in their way of celebrating Independence.

His remonstration was brought on by an incident in which he was involved on Thursday night, when two steelbands from the Woodbrook area attempted to get to the Queen's Park Savannah via the streets of Port of Spain. Kuei Tung is a known supporter of pan and in particular the two bands that were interrupted by police.

The steelbands, PCS Starlift and the Woodbrook Playboyz, were moving in tandem along Pembroke Street, when a police car reportedly drove alongside the band, then pulled up in front of the leading band, preventing any further progress.

Loud arguments ensued between police and the pannists, but in the end police won out, forcing the bands to disperse and leaving crowds of supporters to walk the rest of the way to the Queen's Park Savannah, where a fireworks display was in the offing.

Starlift vice-captain, Carlysle Oliver accused police of removing the keys from a tractor that was pulling the pans of the Playboyz tractor, then forcing the band to disperse, leaving players and supporters to push the trailer back to the band's Tragarete Road panyard.

Starlift was allowed to drive their trailer back to the band's Western Main Road panyard, with the proviso that all players disembark and only the instruments remained on the vehicle.

The police action stemmed from an announcement earlier in the week that all players were required to have insurance, in order to perform on the streets.

Starlift's tractor and trailer are licensed, but the players uninsured for the purpose of playing on public roads.

We have no idea when this law was passed or how it never came to our attention before, Oliver said. This is the way we have celebrated Independence night for plenty years and never before were we harassed by police for insurance. We make sure our vehicles are licensed and insured, but no one ever told us that the players now have to get insurance.

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