Caption: Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar during her first address in the Lower House on Friday
By Sue-Ann Wayow
PRIME Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar took a jab at former prime minister Stuart Young saying he only lasted one day as prime minister in Parliament.
Giving remarks as customary during the First Session of the 13th Parliament on Friday, Persad-Bissessar said the Member of Parliament’s chair in the House of Representatives was a very important one as she again warned MPs to put people first.
She said, “Let me look at a mandate of our MP’s. If you sit in this chamber, all of you, thinking you are here on your own frolic, believing that power belongs to you, instead of the people who put you here, then be prepared for a very short stay in this Chamber. Trust me, Mr Speaker. I’ve been here for some time, some people just last only one day in this job.”
Her statement was accompanied by loud desk thumping from the government side.
That statement she made, made its rounds on social media, with the “taglines” “When Aunty Kams call yuh out” or “Aunty Kams still sharing licks.”
Persad-Bissessar, the Member of Parliament for Siparia for three decades and now twice prime minister, had lamented along with members of the population the selection of Young as prime minister not by the electorate but by former prime minister Dr Keith Rowley.
Young was appointed Prime Minister in March and his first task was to call the general election, therefore dissolving Parliament. He was prime minister for 45 days. His stint ended on May 1 when Persad-Bissessar was sworn in as T&T’s 9th prime minister.
Young’s photo remains displayed at the Piarco International Airport but without a name and date of tenure.
Persad-Bissessar said, “I’ve said it before, I repeat it often to MP’s, if they do not perform in the best interest, and with dedicated service to our citizens we will take decisive action against them. I said retribution would be swift, so they have been warned and they prepared to serve with dedication and commitment.”
In her last government, from 2010 to 2015, several ministers were fired, had their portfolios readjusted or demoted to a lower position in the Government.
