Part of the appeal of a new year is the chance it affords us to leave behind that which has weighed us down or held us back. Part of its challenge is the responsibility to which it calls us to learn from the past and to apply those lessons in the next phase of our journey. Adversity is seldom a welcome guest. But it moulds us, increases our resilience and stretches our creativity to its limits. Adversity tests us. And, in doing so, it reminds us of who we are and what we are capable of. As we leave 2025 behind and enter the new year that is 2026, we leave behind a year that has had its fill of adversity, and we face the call to learn from the lessons that adversity has taught and to apply them to the task of creating a better future.

There is much that weighed us down or held us back in 2025, that we ought properly to leave behind. Our penchant for self-derision (“Trinidad and Tobago is not a real place”); our seeming inability (or refusal) to moderate the caustic language we use in public discourse; and our willingness to accept less than that to which we are entitled from those who should know (and do) better.

Still, 2025 was no ‘annus horribilis’. Far from it. In 2025, we revelled, with justifiable abandon, in the heroic feats of Keshorn Walcott, Jereem Richards and the Trinbago Knight Riders. We also saw our democracy at its finest, in the way of yet another smooth and peaceful transition of power, away from one government and to another. Our many achievements across the areas of sport, academia and culture, also added to what was truly a memorable year in our country’s history.

As we face the next twelve months, we should aim to learn from, and apply the lessons which the adversities of 2025 have taught us. 2026 will undoubtedly bring its challenges. But I remain confident that, standing side by side, and with boundless faith in our destiny, we will rise to meet and overcome them. We will do so if we return to loving ourselves fully, and to practicing greater levels of patriotism. We will do so if we are brave enough to identify the areas in which we can improve, and if we resolve to do better. We will do so if each of us considers the roles we play in the life of our nation, ask ourselves where we can grow in responsibility, discipline and respect, and how we can contribute to building a country of which we can all be proud and glad.

I believe that, in a nation so rich in creativity, ingenuity and talent, such efforts will bear much fruit. I believe that we will surprise ourselves by what we can achieve, when we commit to aspiring and achieving together.

2026 also carries special national significance, as we mark the fiftieth anniversary of our republican status – the final step in our march towards self-determination. As we commemorate this milestone, let us lean into our potential as a nation. Let us recommit to shaping our own future, with the confidence, the patriotism and the unity of purpose that a Republican nation demands.

My husband and I extend our very best wishes to all for the year ahead. May 2026 bring renewed strength, harmony and success, and may God bless our nation.