Kamla: PNM only breaking promises

“No more laptops, no more free school books, good Lord, not even juice and water for when your children have their meals, and, they have cut the meals down in the schools too, cut GATE and the most troubling of all is when you look at the news every single day, we see little children, parents and teachers protesting for schools to be repaired,” Persad-Bissessar said adding, “I can hardly recognise this country that we left one year ago.” Persad-Bissessar was addressing a large contingent of supporters at a rally at the Couva South constituency office car park, Camden Road, Couva yesterday, bringing the curtains down to a month of campaign for voting in tomorrow’s Local Government Elections.

She said the Public/private Partnership arrangement for the Couva Children’s Hospital was another deception by Government and persons wishing to access the hospital would have to pay to use the facilities. Persad- Bissessar said, “And they are so shameless, they are walking up and down this country asking you to vote and be foolish again for a second time and vote for the Rowley’s PNM. Just how they broke those promises, in the same way, they will break the promises on local government reform, in the same way. He wants you to pay for the private partnership company. We will have to follow the example of the great freedom fighter Fidel Castro and we will have to march upon the government to open the children’s hospital.” Persad-Bissessar reminded supporters that the previous People’s_ Partnership administration had created 57,000 new jobs without increasing taxes, while under the PNM government, some 25,000 persons had lost their jobs and yet the Finance Minister, Colm Imbert, was boasting that he had raised taxes and the population had not yet rioted.

Persad-Bissessar also cautioned supports to be “extremely vigilant” during the elections of discrepancies, which may occur as the Election and Boundaries Commission had not responded to 43,000 duplicate names which had appeared on the voters list.

Also addressing the rally was Oropouche East MP Dr Roodal Moonilal who said the ruling party did not only have a ‘wives club’, but also had a ‘boys club’ which were made up of senior government officials.

And waving a brown file folder which he said contained files about a senior government minister who had sold lands to other senior PNM officials, Moonilal asked whether the Integrity Commission had been informed about the land deals._