(Trinidad Express) Prime minister Dr Keith Rowley has hauled Opposition Leader Kamla Persad Bissessar over the coals for her appeal this week to people of African descent to blank the People’s National Movement.
Speaking at a PNM meeting in Mason Hall, Tobago Tuesday night, Rowley also called on the former prime minister to show what she has done for Black people in this country.
Rowley said the conversation on race was one that was generally avoided but he was not afraid to have it.
Directing his words to Persad Bissessar, the PM called on her to disclose how much land was given to persons of African descent when her government distributed lands formerly held by Caroni 1975 Limited.
Saying at one point he was a proud Black man, Rowley then recalled accusations of rape levelled against his father and himself by former Tobago east MP, Vernella Alleyne Toppin, in the Parliament, while she served in the Persad Bissessar government.
Rowley said he recognized that incident for what it was, which was the stereotyping of the Black male as being driven only by sex.
He also accused Persad Bissessar of trying to prevent Black families from voting at all in the next general election , saying this was the work she was doing in areas like La Horquetta.
On Persad Bissessar’s claim Monday that the PNM was “race baiting” as a means of deflecting from its failures, Rowley said, “Kamla is that you?”.
Recalling an invitation one year to attend the annual Divali Nagar in Chaguanas, Rowley said Persad Bissessar and some members of her party had refused to attend while he was there.
Rowley went on to appeal to citizens of all races to make sure they vote at the next polls.
