(Trinidad Guardian) “Yes, I sold bodi and pumpkin in the Penal market. And, yes, I used to walk barefoot to primary school. People used to laugh at us. And I’m proud my parents sacrificed, sucked salt, to send their children to school. I went to England to further my studies. “My family were not rich people. There were so many the PNM had given scholarships—but because I was from Siparia I couldn’t get a scholarship.”
Persad-Bissessar, who has been walking side by side with UNC candidate Khadijah Ameen during her campaign for the July 29 Chaguanas West by-election, sent out a grave reminder to constituents of the party stronghold. “If the UNC loses, it is only the PNM that wins,” she warned. The by-election was called after Jack Warner, former Chaguanas West MP, resigned after a damning Concacaf report during his tenure there.
Warner was rejected by the Government as a UNC candidate and formed a new party, the Independent Liberal Party (ILP), to contest the election. He is viewed as the UNC’s main threat. Persad-Bissessar reminded supporters of the 2001 defections of former UNC MPs Ramesh Lawrence Maharaj, Ralph Maraj and Trevor Sudama, saying they caused the UNC to lose the general election and the PNM to win.
“Team Unity and the gang of three brought down the UNC government and sent us back into the wilderness of opposition. Team Unity did not win a single seat but they achieved what they set out to do.” Persad-Bissessar said she was fearful Warner could fall into the same trap and said he must be reminded that all betrayal led to destruction. She asked the crowd, “Do you want to go back into opposition?”
The shout came back, “No!” The PM asked again, “Do you want the PNM to form the government?” The answer was a resounding, “No!” The PM said she was told “the man on the green platform” had promised to dedicate his next meeting to destroying Ameen. Urging constituents to defend their “sister,” she said Ameen was a UNC patriot who had never betrayed the party. She said this by-election was not about a by-election but about naked ambition.
“Chaguanas West would be the place from where he (Warner) would change the politics of T&T,” she said. “If you listen to his messages, his intention is to work for the PNM to try to topple your Government through the back door. He is saying he must win Chaguanas West to have bargaining power to make him the next prime minister of T&T.”
