THE United National Congress (UNC) launched its campaign for the April 28 general election, at the Naparima College in San Fernando on Monday night, accusing the ruling People’s National Movement (PNM) of bringing Trinidad and Tobago into socio-economic ruins over the past nine and a half years.
The UNC, which is expected to enter into some form of coalition with smaller parties for the election, used the launch to present 18 of the 39 candidates it is expected to name, for control of the 41 seat Parliament, with its leader, Kamla Persad Bissessar saying “we have taken our time to screen over 200 candidates and we have deliberated accordingly.”
She said, “We took the time to select the best candidates to represent your interests. But we will have space for everyone to serve when we all work together and win together. So our opponents won’t dictate our pace.
“We are strategic, highly focused and well-prepared. We will roll out our candidates as planned every day between now and Nomination Day. All candidates will be registered on Nomination Day according to the constitutional requirements. I don’t know about our opponents but we follow the Constitution.”
Among the candidates introduced last night were three members of the Progressive Empowerment Party (PEP) including its political leader Phillip Edward Alexander, who will contest the Port of Spain North/St Ann’s West constituency, currently held by Prime Minister Stuart Young since 2015.
The other two PEP candidates are Janice Learmond-Criqui for Diego Martin West seat that was held by former prime minister Dr Keith Rowley for more than four decades and Brendon Butts who will face Public Utilities and former finance minister, Colm Imbert, for the Diego Martin North East constituency.
The Elections and Boundaries Commission (EBC) said it will hold its preliminary examination of documents for candidates hoping to contest the April 28 elections during a three hour period on Tuesday.
It said candidates will be able to check their documents to make sure that everything is in order for nomination day, April 4, when the prospective candidates file their nomination papers with the respective returning officers and their candidacy is confirmed.
“Interested persons are kindly requested to make use of this opportunity offered to them at the offices of the returning officer for the 41 parliamentary electoral districts in Trinidad and Tobago to minimise the likelihood of difficulties on Nomination Day,” the EBC added.
But she told the campaign launch “as the saying goes ‘Hurry bird don’t build good nest,’” Persad Bissessar said that the focus now is on removing the PNM from office.
Young called the general election four months ahead of the fifth anniversary of the PNM’s second consecutive victory at the polls in 2020, and Persad Bissessar told supporters that he had not been selected and not elected for the top job.
Presenting herself as a person, who has had to walk the streets with her mother selling door to door, Persad Bissessar said, “Only a leader who has walked the same roads as you, can truly understand your feelings, pains and ambitions and make decisions in your best interest.
“So when political leaders come to you asking for your vote, ask them, where is your track record? What is your track record?”
Persad Bissessar, who turns 73, six days before the election, praised her “hard working” mother for creating and molding “the first female attorney general, the first female leader of the opposition and the first female prime minister”.
She said the 50-year-old Prime Minister Young had no shared experiences with the rank-and-file PNM members, questioning how could he hope to have that with the people.
“He can never understand or appreciate your circumstances, so you will never win with him,” she said, adding that a UNC government would work to decrease taxes on people’s retirement benefits and private pensions.
Persad Bissessar said that a UNC government will establish a national commission on the banking and financial sector so as to to ensure citizens are not exploited via predatory fees and interest rate spreads and that banks and financial institutions perform their essential developmental role of converting national savings into national investment.
She said this commission will also work to ensure a fair distribution of foreign exchange and deregulate financial bureaucracy to facilitate business transaction processing. She is also promising an end to the property tax as well as lower food prices and no electricity and water rate increases.
“The PNM has chosen a slogan that says “All In” because they are all in to make your life harder. The PNM is all in with high fuel prices. The PNM is all in with high food prices, the PNM is all in on potholes and traffic tickets. The PNM is all in with taking away your pensions.
“The PNM is all in on property tax. The PNM is all in against you and your families. The PNM is all in against legal firearms for law-abiding citizens. The PNM MPs are all in the pocket of Young family financiers. They are all incompetent, they are all insensitive and all inhumane,” she added.
She said the recent announcement by Prime Minister Young to establish a ministry of implementation and efficiency if he is returned to office, underscores the failure of the ruling party during the past decade in office.
“This is an admission that the PNM government was incompetent during its past ten years in power. The nerve and gall of this man to so shamelessly declare such a ministry as if he has found the solution to all of the country’s problems,” Persad Bissessar told supporters.
Monday’s nights launch of the UNC campaign was also addressed by the President General of the Oilfield Workers Trade Union (OWTU), Ancil Roget, who has in the past been critical of the government’s decision to shut down the oil refinery.
The OWTU’s backed company had failed in its bid to take over the refinery with the government announcing recently that Oando PLC, one of Africa’s largest integrated energy solutions providers, had been selected as the preferred bidder. (CMC)
