Out of order, Kamla!

Well, well, well looka this though!

In the wake of the devastation left in Barbados, St. Vincent but especially St. Lucia by Hurricane Tomas, this was the first thingTrinidad's Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar had to say on Monday:


"We will have to look at ways in which we would be able to assist. But you would recall my comments earlier this year, when I said there must some way in which Trinidad and Tobago would also benefit. So if we are giving assistance with housing for example, and that is one of the areas that we (Prime Minister of St Vincent and myself ) spoke about, ... then we may be able to use Trinidad and Tobago builders and companies, so that whatever money or assistance is given, redounds back in some measure to the people of Trinidad and Tobago."

Naturally, her comments are causing outrage up and down the Caribbean.

Many are saying while they understand and don't even object to the sentiment behind it (aid with conditions is nothing new after all - look every stadium or office block the Chinese build in the region is done by Chinese companies and with Chinese workers to boot) but the way she said it and when she said were completely out of order.

And we here at Islandista agree, though we are not surprised, because Kamla has made her anti-CARICOM stance very clear in a set of mouthings for much of this year-  starting with infamous "ATM" comment earlier this year and continuing with her kvetching about the expense of the CCJ being based in Trinidad - after HER PARTY, the UNC lobbied for it to be there in the 90s.

Her comments are crass, short-sighted and disgracefully unCaribbean for a woman who lived in Jamaica for 14 years and drew a salary from the Jamaican people for at least 10 of those years.

Not only that, they are flat out stupid. "Some way in which Trinidad must benefit?" As the Express rightly pointed out in its editorial today, CARICOM countries "take about 10 per cent of Trinidad's exports." Trinidad, more than any other CARICOM country, has been benefiting for years from intra-regional trade.

What if the citizenry of these countries were so offended that they decided to take the aid but boycott Trinidad's goods?


Simply put, words mean something and Kamla should have chosen her words more carefully before biting one of the hands that feeds her people.

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Out of order, Kamla!

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BREAKING NEWS: Kamla Persad-Bissessar first female PM of Trinidad & Tobago

[picapp align="center" wrap="false" link="term=Trinidad+elections&iid=8901433" src="3/6/d/5/Opposition_leader_PersadBissessar_7be6.jpg?adImageId=12976890&imageId=8901433" width="380" height="268" /]

As Denyse Plummer said it then, it has become now - Woman is boss in Trinidad & Tobago.

The news is just in that Kamla Persad-Bissessar will now be the first female Prime Minister of Trinidad & Tobago, after her People's Partnership coalition won the snap elections in Trinidad and Tobago today with 28 out of 41 seats.


Kamla declared victory from as early as 8:30 p.m. (Eastern Caribbean time) as it became clear the PP was headed to victory and extended the olive branch to PNM supporters saying:

"All are welcome. The door is open."

[picapp align="center" wrap="false" link="term=Trinidad+elections&iid=8901434" src="2/4/5/c/Opposition_leader_Kamla_05ed.jpg?adImageId=12976895&imageId=8901434" width="380" height="253" /]

(About to be former) Prime Minister Patrick Manning only conceded a short while ago, saying "we accept the results and I accept full responsibility."

Things looking sticky for Manning now - this is the second time he called a snap election and lost - the first time being 1995. Yuh can't mek  that kinda mistake twice, especially when you are not that popular.

And just for a final touch ... Denyse Plummer's Dimance Gras 88 performance of ... Woman is Boss.

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Kamla Persad-Bissessar takes over as Opposition Leader

[caption id="attachment_2108" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Photo credit: Trinidad Express"][/caption]



She finally did it - Kamla Persad-Bissessar will take her seat today in the Red House in Port-of-Spain as Trinidad & Tobago's first female Oppostion Leader.

On Wednesday, after weeks of public bad john talk from Basdeo Panday and quiet negotiation behind the scenes by Kamla, she finally got enough support from the parliamentary group to become the Opposition Leader. Notable exceptions were Subhas Panday and Mickela Panday, Basdeo's brother and daughter.

Bas in response, picked his battle with the UNC's new chief whip, his frenemy-turned-enemy-again Jack Warner, saying that while he supported Kamla, he would retire to the UNC's back bench as he would not serve under him.

From the Trinidad Guardian:

“Notwithstanding my reservations on the integrity of the recent internal elections of the UNC, I am, in the interest of unity within the party and my desire to see the UNC grow from strength to strength, willing to work with Mrs Kamla Persad-Bissessar, the new Leader of the Opposition. I am, however, not prepared to serve under Jack Warner as chief whip in the Parliament until such time as he renders an account for the millions of dollars received by him on behalf of the party.”

Never a dull moment with Bas, eh?

 

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10-1 is murder!

Or so Sparrow said.

Yet, despite a 10-1 drubbing by Kamla in the UNC leadership elections, Bas, like Denyse Plummer, 'nah leaving.'

Not yet.

Kamla polled 13, 929 votes to Panday's 1,359 votes - or more than 10 times as many votes as the Silver Fox.

But he made it clear in an interview with the Trinidad Express that he will not be relinquishing the Opposition Leader post gracefully.

The Express article is (perhaps unwittingly) hil-ar-ious.

Every other paragraph starts with "told that" and "asked that" and have Panday stonewalling in the most creative ways possible.

An example:

Yesterday, faced with the enormity of his defeat at the UNC polls and the strength of Persad-Bissessar’s mandate to lead, Panday insisted on playing it by the book-pointing out that he was following the country’s Constitution and the UNC’s constitution. And neither say that the Political Leader has to be Opposition Leader.

Told that there was strong view that it would be difficult for him to continue as Opposition Leader in the face of his comprehensive defeat as Political Leader, Panday said: ’I would have thought that they were two different things. I became Leader of the Opposition because of a national election. Now this is a party election and I think they are two different things. Don’t you?’

Told that there was a view that there was an organic connection between the mandate from the party and the mandate from the general electorate, Panday insisted he was following democratic law.

’I accept the democratic decision of the UNC electorate and I would accept the democratic decisions of the UNC Parliamentarians,’ he said.

Asked whether he did not think he should relieve the MPs from the burden of making a decision about his future as Opposition Leader (by resigning), Panday said: ’No.’

Told that new Chairman Jack Warner said he should do the honourable thing, Panday started saying: ’Jack Warner and honourable should not be used ... Anyway the issue is one (post), is (based on) a party election and the other is the result of a national election.’


Told that while that was the legal position, the issue was whether it would be immoral for him to hold on as Opposition Leader in the face of the strong endorsement for Persad-Bissessar from the party electorate, Panday asked: ’Whose morals are you referring to? Yours or mine?’

And so it goes, on and on. Not that I think we expected any different. Kamla have to hold strong now.

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It's Kamla!

She finally did it.

Kamla Persad-Bissessar is now the first woman to lead a major political party in Trinidad's history, after winning the leadership of the UNC last night in a landslide.


She came out of the shadows of her former political mentor,  Basdeo Panday and withstood the attacks from her parliamentary colleagues, most of whom sided with party founder Panday, to prevail as the people's choice.

Not only that, but the entire slate of her backers won spots on the executive as well.


Kamla immediately spoke of the need to heal and unite the party, offering an olive branch to those she defeated:

"In the heart of a campaign, people say things that may offend. But as a mother, a wife, a sister and a daughter, I know how to forgive. I hold no animosity against you."

Of course... the Silver Fox was not quite as gracious in defeat.Before the final results were announced, but when things were already looking grim, the Express asked him if he was ready to offer congratulations to Kamla. Bas had this response:

"’Not yet, certainly there are so many irregularities. I don’t have to concede defeat to anybody, when the elections results are finally declared, that may be the time.’

He also spoke about the other side resorting to 'thuggery', after being booed and jeered by UNC members when he went to cast his vote yesterday morning.

Even after the results were announced, he could not bring himself to utter the words.

From the Express:

Meanwhile a deflated-sounding Panday who stayed at home, indicated that he was not yet ready to concede, that he wouldn’t be going to the party’s Rienzi Complex headquarters last night and wondered why he should. ’I’m having fun..answering my e-mails,’ he said, when asked what he was doing for the evening.

Ah boy... what else you could expect eh?

It will be interesting to see what the next steps will be now. Will the same parliamentary group who sided with Bas, now bow to the people's choice and choose Kamla as the Opposition Leader? Will Bas be able to keep them with him? Will Kamla be tough enough to insist that her colleagues choose her as political leader?


Will his side challenge the results? Will he take his part of the party with him and form yet another political party - to follow the ULF, NAR and Club88?

Oh the bacchanal never ends in Trini politics...

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Is it about time for Kamla?

Woman time now? Kamla Persad-Bissessar




We don't discuss politics much on Islandista, namely because women are still quite under-represented in our regional houses of assembly, so there's not as much to discuss as we'd like.





And quite often, where women aren't under-represented, they are undermined. There have been many capable and intelligent Caribbean female politicians who have waited and waited in the shadows of charismatic male political leaders/mentors to get their chance at leadership, only to be undermined in some way or form - usually by the same mentor who can't let go of power.





Former Jamaican Prime Minister Portia Simpson-Miller knows all about it. Barbados' Opposition Leader Mia Mottley is now learning about it.




But Trinidad & Tobago's Opposition MP Kamla Persad-Bissessar could write the book on it.




Every Trini or political junkie islandista recalls her betrayal by mentor Basdeo Panday back in the heat of T&T's 2007 elections, when he chose to lead the party again along with Jack Warner after saying he was not interested in the leadership. This after the loyal Kamla had risen to the task as the party's leader during Panday's enforced absence from Parliament.





And people still talk about her (in?) famous 'No Woman No Cry' speech at a rally during that elections where she vowed her loyalty to the party but said:








"I want to tell my political enemies close to me and far away that Kamla is a woman who gets knocked down, but she gets up again and they are never going to keep me down.




... I never sought to betray this party. I never sought to hold the supporters to ransom... And I never left it. I have never walked out because things weren’t going my way.




... I have worked too long and too hard for both the party and the country and I am not about to give up now.”







But still, she took the insult, sucked salt and stayed loyal to the party and Panday - unlike Maharaj and Jack.




But is the time for that coming to an end?




Last month Kamla announced her intention to contest the leadership of the UNC, declaring:








"No-one is ever going to keep me down again...no one!"







Many will say it's about damn time and point to how the UNC has been devouring itself amidst a pack of the raging male political egos of Ram, Jack and Bas.




Other may say that Kamla is not strong enough to lead the party to victory, especially with wily politicians like Manning and of course Ram, Jack and Bas about the place.





Interestingly enough though, a recent poll by the North American Teachers Association (NACTA) has said that Kamla will win by a landslide.




So what do my Trini islandistas and politically-minded islandistas think?




Will it be, as the people say, 'woman time now' for Kamla?

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