Hamza proud to vote for Kamla

Rafeeq gave his personal endorsement to Persad-Bissessar in answering a question raised by a Muslim cleric who openly criticised him for supporting a woman politician for the post of Opposition Leader.

The cleric opined that: “women must have subordinate roles and Dr Rafeeq is well aware of this and therefore, should not have given her (Persad-Bissessar) his vote for that position.” Rafeeq was giving his opinions at the party’s weekly Monday Night Forum which was held this week at Freeport Presbyterian School.

“I am proud to have voted for her and I will continue to support her,” Rafeeq said as Persad-Bissessar smiled as she sat in the centre of the headtable.

Rafeeq added that he knew the cleric was a supporter of UNC Political Leader Winston Dookeran. “I shudder to think what will happen to women, if Dookeran gets into power,” Rafeeq bluntly stated. Rafeeq said he had the pleasure of serving as Minister of Health under the UNC Government and opened up 40 Health Centres under that regime. “How many Health Centres have the PNM built over the last five years?”

The Opposition Chief Whip told the audience that under the UNC Government, they had planned to reduce the age for pensioners to 60 and establish a fund for new borns of $1,500 to be drawn at maturity to help in their education.

“This was to be done with the limited resources of the country at that time. We would have ensured that there was a computer in every home if we had gotten back into office and would have made this country a paradise,” Rafeeq said.

He then told the crowd: “regardless of house padding, I am guaranteeing Caroni Central will always remain a safe seat for the UNC. And I say to Patrick Manning, if you think you can win the Elections, call it now.”

Couva South MP Kelvin Ramnath told the gathering that they (the supporters) had invested considerably in the UNC and the party will not be taken away by “opportunists who pose as leaders.”

Ramnath said government played political football with the Soca Warriors and did not recognise the services of FIFA vice-president Jack Warner to the overall success of the team during its World Cup Finals campaign in Germany.

“The PNM was gallerying themsleves on the backs of the footballers but they did not plan for the future.”

Ramnath warned the sporting public that the “PNM should not lay hands on football...if not they will blight it forever.”

He noted that “if we want to reach South Africa 2010, then politicians must steer clear of the game and leave it to the professionals.”

He said Government was drawing $300 million a day on oil revenue but they were not providing the country with amenities to facilitate the needs of the population.

He cited that the Couva Health Facility did not have an X-ray machine available after 4 pm and this was a tragedy to a district that was rapidly becoming industrialised. “What are they really doing with all the oil money,” he asked .

Ramnath ended off by firing a salvo at the party’s Political Leader by saying: “if you are the Political Leader, you should be talking to the people here tonight as we are doing.” This was in reference to Dookeran’s decision to hold parallel cottage meetings.