Fuad tells Manning: Call elections in 2004

BARATARIA/SAN JUAN MP Dr Fuad Khan yesterday challenged Prime Minister Patrick Manning to call general elections in Trinidad and Tobago next year or face the wrath of the population. In his New Year’s Day message, Khan predicted “a bleak outlook for 2004 with a Government bent on sticking their heads in the ground.” The UNC MP said TT faced a series of tortuous events this year and being saddled with a Prime Minister “who has proven beyond any doubt that he is incompetent, unimaginative and in many ways impotent” did not help to ease matters at all. “All in all, this Government has failed the people of TT miserably and I am calling on the Government to seek a fresh mandate in the coming year. This Government must prove its legitimacy or face the wrath of a population wanting salvation and deliverance from evil,” he declared.

Khan accused the Government of  “exercising a supposed right to rape the national purse by squandering monies on CEPEP, URP and contracts for PNM boys and girls who have no idea how to govern a country.” The UNC MP claimed that the PNM has afforded protection to criminal elements in the country. “I, as a Member of Parliament, formed on April 4, 2003 what was known as the Guardian Angels. Unfortunately, the group was given no support by the State but they did what they could within the confines of available resources to reduce the incidence of kidnappings by engaging in surveillance and reporting their findings to the police,” he lamented. Khan also charged that in 2003, the PNM tried to infiltrate and dismantle the UNC. “Better than the PNM have tried to fracture the UNC but all have failed,” he declared.