Rainorama fight heads for Privy Council Kitchener’s family rallies support

Rainorama fight heads for Privy Council Kitchener’s family rallies support
By Kyle Jeremiah, Trinidad Guardian, Friday, December 7th, 2007

TENSIONS ran high yesterday at the Rainorama compound in Diego Martin as family members of the late Aldwyn Roberts (Lord Kitchener) rallied support from members of the public, after a September court ruling gave them until December 31 to vacate the premises.

Public figures, including Liz Montano (mother of soca star Machel Montano), entertainers Zan and the Original De Fosto, joined Kitchener’s son Kernal Roberts to air their grievances surrounding the eviction.

Kitchener’s former companion Betsy Howell-Pollard, who had acquired the property from Kitchener in the late ’90s, had, upon her death, willed the property to her sister Susan Gittens and a friend Charmaine Kumar.

After a bitter legal battle, Justice Lennox Deyalsingh ruled in favour of Gittens and Kumar over the mother of Kitchener’s four children, Valerie Greene.

During an interview yesterday at the property which she now occupies, Greene said her lawyers were working tirelessly to ensure that the matter reaches the Privy Council.

Greene compared the gathering of her children and members of the public at Rainorama yesterday to that of Kitchener’s funeral.

“The day of the judgment reminded me of the day that Kitch died,” she said.

She said the goal was to save her late companion’s legacy for her children and for everyone in support of the culture.

“When you look at the manner in which things were done, the judge should have given justice to the whole situation...Two wrongs don’t make a right,” Greene said.

She further lashed out at the ruling by deeming it “support for infidelity.”

She added: “How come the judge could not see what the whole of T&T saw?”

Greene admitted that she did not know what Gittens and Kumar had planned for the property but maintained that her only concern was to “safeguard my children’s inheritance.”

A nail technician by trade, Greene called on the public to look at her situation as a positive rather than a negative and for mothers to focus on their children even if they face issues of infidelity with their husbands.

Montano confident

Meanwhile, the mother of soca superstar Machel Montano, Liz Montano, said her presence at the compound was to highlight her belief in the protection and the preservation of a legacy.

“My son (Machel) has a legacy to protect and to be preserved and I am trying very hard to ensure this...I admire Valerie because she is doing the same,” Montano said.

“The reason being is that calypso and soca have not had much documentation and preservation and much voice behind it.

“So those who are behind it should support it and should be supported by all—Government, people who are concerned.”

Asked whether she would extend an olive branch if Greene and her family ended up homeless, Montano said it would not be necessary as she believed the family would not have to leave the home.