Kamla wants ‘all hands on deck’

In response to a question on whether she felt threatened, she said, “I have not been threatened by anyone”.

“You cannot want unity and want to exclude people. Everyone is welcome who shares the vision of the UNC and who wants to return the UNC to government,” she said.

In this regard Persad-Bissessar said she sent a letter to Political Leader Winston Dookeran yesterday inviting him to a meeting to discuss the way forward. The invitation comes on the heels of statements by Basdeo Panday lamenting the apparent lack of leadership in the UNC.

On the suspension of Gary Griffith, Persad-Bisssessar said it was not punitive but “administrative”. “It is not indefinite, it is merely a holding action, pending investigation,” she said.

On Griffith’s letter calling for an investigation into Deputy Political Leader Jack Warner, Persad-Bissessar said Griffith’s letter would be circulated and copied to members of the Executive, who would discuss it at its next meeting on June 7.

She said it is also expected that Dookeran would respond to the concerns of Executive members at that meeting.

Meanwhile the Caroni East Constituency Executive yesterday condemned the suspension of Gary Griffith saying that the National Executive under Vasant Bharath was seeking to stifle and suppress freedom of expression in the party. “It is an abuse of power,” the Executive stated, adding that Griffith had been “open and forthright” and was a “beacon of decency” in the party.