By Sue-Ann Wayow
REGARDLESS of the outcome of the local government election on August 14, political leader of the National Transformation Alliance (NTA) Gary Griffith is vowing to remain accessible to the people.
This he said during an interview on I95.5 FM on Wednesday with hosts Tony Lee and Dale Enoch.
Griffith’s party is contesting 31 electoral districts as part of an alliance with the United National Congress (UNC).
Those areas located mainly along the East-West corridor are primarily dominated by the People’s National Movement (PNM).
Griffith said he has been walking the length and breadth of those districts and the residents he met said they have never seen PNM political leader and Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley in their area. They also have not seen their local government councillor since the last local government election in 2019.
“My job is to ensure that regardless of the result, I must continue to make myself accessible and continue to give hope to the country,” he said.
Admitting that it would be a task for the electorate in those areas to vote outside of the PNM, Griffith also said citizens were hungry for change.
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He said, “They want to ensure that there are political leaders and parties willing to serve and make themselves accessible… I am not going to take away my accessibility after August 14.”
The former police commissioner also said that assistance was first offered to Dr Rowley who rejected him and essentially said, “The country could drown in blood, I do not want to work with you.”
He told the programme hosts Dale Enoch and Tony Lee, “Please understand that Keith Rowley was the first person and the first political party that we offered to work with and he rejected us, so is it is that we are now going to work with other parties that want to work with us, don’t be offended.”
Griffith also emphasised that a strategic alliance with the UNC has been formed to ensure that the NTA can win seats and can succeed in the local government election to be an agent of positive change.
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He said, “What happens after that it will involve dialogue, communication, collaboration and mutual respect and if that is done, then it can bind it even further which is why after the local government election results, if and when this works, the country may very well not have to wait until 2025 for a general election.”
Griffith also said never before, under any political leader that citizens have been so fearful of a Government.
“People are mortified, they are intimidated, because of the fact of persons attacking them, questioning them, removing their jobs, everywhere you go, this has never happened before.”
