Message from Her Excellency on Spiritual Shouter Baptist Liberation Day 2026
Fellow citizens, Permit me, on the occasion of Spiritual Shouter Baptist Liberation Day 2026, to...
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Author: OTP
Second annual Spiritual Shouter Baptist Liberation Day Exhibition held at The President’s House
The Office of the President of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago proudly hosted its second...
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Courtesy Call: Veteran Officers of the Trinidad and Tobago Regiment (DIEHARDS)
On Tuesday 24 March, 2026, Her Excellency Christine Carla Kangaloo O.R.T.T., President of the...
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World Down Syndrome Day 2026
Today, on World Down Syndrome Day 2026, we recognise the lives, contributions and potential of...
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Message on Eid 2026
As the Muslim community in Trinidad and Tobago celebrates the sacred festival of Eid, I extend...
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๐ #HappeningNow | TobagoSixth Form students of Bishopโs High School are engaging in an insightful discussion with Their Excellencies Christine Carla Kangaloo, ORTT, President of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, and Kerwyn Garcia, SC, First Gentleman, on the roles and functions of the Presidency.From the constitutional responsibilities of the Office to its ceremonial functions, the discussion highlights the important role of the President as Head of State and the significance of the Presidency in the governance and national life of Trinidad and Tobago.This engagement marks the third stop on Day One of Their Excellenciesโ visit to Tobago, providing an opportunity to connect with young people and deepen their understanding of the nationโs highest constitutional office. #TobagoVisit #BishopsHighSchool #CivicEducation #officeofthepresidenttaiwan
๐ #AsItHappens | TobagoTheir Excellencies, President of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, Christine Carla Kangaloo, ORTT, and Kerwyn Garcia, SC, First Gentleman have arrived at Scarborough Secondary School for their second stop in Tobago today! ๐น๐นThey received a warm welcome, with a salute from the schoolโs Cadet Force and vibrant cultural presentations celebrating Tobagoโs rich heritage. ๐ญ๐๐ฝDuring their visit, Their Excellencies will engage with Upper and Lower Sixth Form students in an interactive discussion on the roles and functions of the Presidency, providing students with valuable insight into the office and its importance in Trinidad and Tobagoโs governance.#AsItHappens #Tobago #officeofthepresidenttt #TrinidadAndTobago
#HappeningNow Their Excellencies Christine Carla Kangaloo, ORTT, President of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, and Kerwyn Garcia, SC, First Gentleman, arrive at the Shaw Park Complex in Tobago for a storytime session with students from primary schools across the island.The session marks the first of many activities that Their Excellencies will participate in on the island of Tobago over the next two days.
#ICYMI Her Excellency Christine Carla Kangaloo, ORTT, President of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago delivered the feature address at the 2026 Installation of the Poet Laureate of Trinidad and Tobago, held at the National Library and Information System Authority (NALIS), yesterday, Thursday 15 October 2026, National Poetry Day.In her address, Her Excellency highlighted the importance of poetry in preserving Trinidad and Tobagoโs cultural heritage, giving voice to diverse experiences and encouraging honest public discourse. Her Excellency paid tribute to outgoing Poet Laureate, Mr. Paul Keens-Douglas, who was also present, and reflected on the responsibilities of poets in a democratic society, including the need to protect authentic creative expression in an era of artificial intelligence.Following the Presidentโs address, Ms Danielle Boodoo-Fortunรฉ was announced as the 2026 Poet Laureate of Trinidad and Tobago and was presented with the award by Her Excellency.The Poet Laureate of Trinidad and Tobago Programme is a national initiative dedicated to recognising literary excellence, celebrating our nationโs rich oral traditions and promoting engagement with poetry through public readings, workshops and community outreach. Relaunched in September 2026 under the patronage of President Kangaloo, the programme is a collaboration between the Circle of Poets of Trinidad and Tobago and the National Library and Information System Authority (NALIS). ๐๐ธ: flic.kr/s/aHBqjD7Jus๐๐๐ ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐๐ฎ๐ฅ๐ฅ ๐ญ๐๐ฑ๐ญ ๐จ๐ ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐๐๐๐ซ๐๐ฌ๐ฌ ๐๐๐ฅ๐ข๐ฏ๐๐ซ๐๐ ๐๐ฒ ๐๐๐ซ ๐๐ฑ๐๐๐ฅ๐ฅ๐๐ง๐๐ฒ ๐๐ก๐ซ๐ข๐ฌ๐ญ๐ข๐ง๐ ๐๐๐ซ๐ฅ๐ ๐๐๐ง๐ ๐๐ฅ๐จ๐จ, ๐๐๐๐, ๐๐ซ๐๐ฌ๐ข๐๐๐ง๐ญ ๐จ๐ ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐๐๐ฉ๐ฎ๐๐ฅ๐ข๐ ๐จ๐ ๐๐ซ๐ข๐ง๐ข๐๐๐ ๐๐ง๐ ๐๐จ๐๐๐ ๐จ ๐๐๐ฅ๐จ๐ฐ:Good evening.It is a privilege to join you on National Poetry Day and to serve as Patron of the Poet Laureate of Trinidad and Tobago Programme. I congratulate the Circle of Poets of Trinidad and Tobago and NALIS on reviving this office in our national life. Its importance will be measured not by ceremony alone, but by the extent to which it carries poetry into our classrooms, communities and public conversation.In Trinidad and Tobago, poetry has never lived only on the printed page. We hear it in the calypso tent and the panyard; in churches, temples and masjids; in schoolyards, festivals and spoken-word performances. It carries our many accents, ancestries and faiths. It gives form to private feeling and preserves public memory.A poet is, among other things, a truth-teller. Poets record our heights and our failures, what is beautiful in us and what is broken, the country as we celebrate it and the country as it is experienced by those who stand at its margins. They examine the human condition and the wider world without turning away from what is difficult. Sometimes, they give words to truths a society already knows. At other times, they make visible what a society has been trying not to see.This is why Percy Bysshe Shelleyโs description of poets as โthe unacknowledged legislators of the worldโ remains so apt. Poets do not make law; they help to shape the moral climate in which laws are debated, power is exercised and citizens understand themselves. Their authority comes from independence of mind, disciplined craft and fidelity to truth.Mr. Keens-Douglas, your work has proved the point. Through Tanti Merle, Vibert and the world of Mr. Tim Tim, you have preserved the cadence, humour and social memory of Caribbean life without sanding away its unmistakably local character. Trinidad and Tobago has long heard itself in your work. As you conclude your tenure as our first national Poet Laureate, I thank you for the imagination, wit and humanity with which you have served.I cannot speak of poetry reaching the next generation without also acknowledging Derron Sandy, a regular supporter of and performer at The Office of The Presidentโs annual Pan Camps. Through spoken word, he has helped our young campers discover that their own experiences are worthy of expression and that their own voices deserve to be heard.Truth-telling, however, has never been without cost. We should be alert whenever a nationโs public voice begins to grow guarded: when citizens weigh not only what they wish to say, but how their words may be received; or when measures adopted for exceptional circumstances begin to shape ordinary civic life. No one doubts that public safety is a solemn responsibility. But so, too, is preserving the space in which citizens may question, reflect and contribute with confidence. A healthy democracy makes room for both security and candour.At such moments, we need poets to speak out and speak up. Their task is not to become agents of any organization or faction, but to retain the independence to celebrate what is worthy, illuminate what calls for attention, and give voice to experiences that might otherwise go unheard. Speaking truth to power need not be adversarial. At its best, it is an act of faith in the Republic - the belief that its institutions are strengthened, not diminished, by thoughtful and honest engagement.In a country of many communities and convictions, truth-telling must also make room for listening. Poetry can address difficult realities without diminishing the dignity of others. It can bring injustice into view without turning disagreement into enmity, and invite those entrusted with authority to see what they might not otherwise see. That union of candour and humanity is especially valuable to our national conversation.That truth-telling tradition extends beyond the printed page to the calypso stage. As Trinidad and Tobago prepares to lay Slinger Francisco, the Mighty Sparrow, to rest tomorrow, we remember one of the greatest exponents of that tradition. Through the calypsos he brought to life, the intelligence of his interpretation and the force of his performance, Sparrow made humour carry criticism and melody carry memory. He could celebrate us and chastise us in the same breath. He showed that an artist can be loved by a people without flattering them. In saying farewell to him tomorrow, we will honour an incomparable performer and the civic value of an unafraid Caribbean voice.The authentic human voice has acquired a second urgency. Artificial intelligence can now assemble polished verse in seconds. It can recognise patterns, imitate cadences and reproduce the surface of a style. What it cannot do is live our history, bear moral responsibility for what it says or incur the human cost of an unpopular truth. A machine can generate language; it cannot supply conscience.We need not fear the technology or deny its usefulness. We must, however, protect authorship, consent and credit. For poets, the answer is to become more fully themselves. This is no time to retreat into imitation or silence. We need voices formed by lived experience, disciplined craft, moral judgment and the courage to be recognizably their own.To the laureate who will be named shortly, I offer my congratulations and this charge: let the office enlarge the reach of your voice without narrowing its freedom. Speak in a voice unmistakably your own. Tell us what is beautiful and what is broken. Praise us when praise is due, and disturb us when conscience requires it. Help the country hear voices it might otherwise miss.A nation does not need its poets merely to praise it. It needs poets who love it enough to tell it the truth.Thank you.