Maroc - NEWSDAY.CO.TT - A la Une - 28/Aug 12:53

Kamla tells UNC supporters: ‘You will never have a leader like me’

UNC political leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar has told party supporters they will never, ever have a leader like her. She also warned they could be their own worst enemies if they allow the PNM to win the next general election. Persad-Bissessar was addressing a UNC cottage meeting in Chaguanas on August 26. She said, "You have had leaders before me, you will have leaders after me. But you will never have a leader who loves you as much as I do." She said the next election will be the "mother of all elections." She warned UNC supporters that they could be their own worst enemies if they become complacent and help the PNM to win it. Persad-Bissessar warned them against "swallowing hook, line and sinker the PNM narrative and repeating the nonsense (from the PNM). "Put some steel in your backbone, because this fight will not be easy. They will come with their bag of tricks, their gimmicks and their lies." Persad-Bissessar claimed the PNM were experts in character assassination: "They will come to damage everybody." Earlier in the meeting, Couva North MP Ravi Ratiram said the UNC needed no alliance with any party to win the election. He attributed this to Persad-Bissessar's political wisdom. "In 2010, we needed a partnership to come together to form the government." This was the People's Partnership (PP) coalition, which included the UNC, Congress of the People (COP), Movement for Social Justice (MSJ), Tobago Organisation of the People (TOP) and the National Joint Action (NJAC). Ratiram said the PP's stakeholders went in different directions and the coalition collapsed. "It cost us the government." He praised Persad-Bissessar for strengthening the UNC after the PP's demise in 2015. "The UNC is now the most popular political party in the (Western) hemisphere." Ratiram also boasted that the UNC is certain to win all marginal constituencies on its own. Those constituencies are San Fernando West, St Joseph, Tunapuna, Toco/Sangre Grande, La Horquetta/Talparo, Barataria/San Juan, Chaguanas East, Pointe-a-Pierre and Moruga/Tableland. The UNC currently controls Barataria/San Juan, Chaguanas East, Pointe-a-Pierre and Moruga/Tableland. Ratiram said the pary's co-ordinators in all nine constituencies have done the work since the last election in 2020 to move those constituencies from being marginal to UNC strongholds. "As soon as that election bell is rung we are also going to declare a victory in those marginals." Pointe-a-Pierre MP David Lee claimed the PNM has already selected a candidate to challenge him in that constituency, but he predicted a certain win for the UNC in Pointe-a-Pierre. Lee said Persad-Bissessar was the only person fit to be prime minister. "Tonight I say that leader is Kamla Persad-Bissessar, who continues to selflessly battle the PNM." He said the next election is the last chance to save TT from the PNM. Lee repeated the UNC's claim that the PNM has done nothing to develop the energy sector over the last nine years and is focusing only on the Dragon gas deal with Venezuela. Chaguanas East MP Vandana Mohit said she was prepared to stand her ground in the key marginal seat. She added that the constituency has prospered under the UNC, in and out of government. "Remember what a workhorse can do. We have worked in the UNC." She warned constituents, "Don't allow no show pony to come inside of here." Minister in the Ministry of Works and Transport Richie Sookhai has expressed an interest in contesting Chaguanas East for the PNM. Moruga/Tableland MP Michelle Benjamin said she knew the PNM had set its sights on her constituency as critical to its election victory, but was confident the constituency would remain in the UNC's hands. Benjamin said, "They does only know we when it is election time. They feel this time they could buy votes." Referring to the Prime Minister's proposal to remove Christopher Columbus's three ships from the national coat of arms and replace them with the steelpan, Benjamin predicted Dr Rowley will disappear from office before the ships disappear. The post Kamla tells UNC supporters: ‘You will never have a leader like me’ appeared first on Trinidad and Tobago Newsday.