UNC: Reclaim your country

In her first Independence Day message since being appointed Opposition Leader in June, Persad-Bissessar said it would be difficult for her to paint a beautiful picture of TT “which sadly today is not a reality.” Recalling statements about defending democracy that were made by TT’s first prime minister Dr Eric Williams when the nation gained independence from Britain on August 31, 1962, Persad-Bissessar said the founding pillars of the society were being hammered at and “the fundamental rights and freedoms of our people are being infringed on.”

“The authorisation of the separation of powers guaranteed in our Constitution has been trampled upon and our democracy is in great peril,” she declared.

Persad-Bissessar claimed that escalating crime, rising food prices, higher costs of living and inflationary pressures on the economy are combining to steadily erode the foundations of TT and it was time for citizens to stand in defence of their country. “Therefore I urge you to reclaim our land at any if not all cost,” she declared.

Persad-Bissessar said citizens must take former PM Basdeo Panday’s call for national unity to heart in times such as these because “great change is needed” in TT. She said people must look beyond societal barriers, overcome all tribal mindsets and look at the common good of the nation. Acknowledging deceased former President Noor Hassanali as an exemplary role model for the nation, Persad-Bissessar said citizens must reflect on where TT has gone wrong as a nation and restore everything that is “good and right in our society.” She added that only when this is done, can TT celebrate true independence as a nation.

Following the example of its Opposition Leader, the UNC’s Independence Day message also slammed the PNM Government for its “inept and arrogant” administration.

According to a statement issued yesterday from the party’s Communications Unit, the recent achievements of our nation’s youth in the sporting, visual and performing arts, academia and several other arenas was commendable. However, the statement continued, alongside these achievements was the “glum reality” that another Independence Day has met the nation “under the yoke” of a crime epidemic, grinding poverty, runaway inflation, poor health care system, traffic disasters, a dysfunctional education system, misguided priorities, group domination, nepotism, rural neglect and subversion of independent institutions. Nevertheless, the party saluted Trinidad and Tobago on its 44th anniversary of Independence and urged the nation to redouble their efforts for personal and national successes.

Meanwhile, the party’s Political Leader Winston Dookeran, in his Independence message criticised the PNM Government for attempting to construct a new Constitution without considering the “will of all the people.” He said in 1976 when the first Constitution was drafted, like now, there have been many of the view that the Constitution upon which our democracy and its ideals of equity were based, really amounted to a tool for the maintenance of power and influence by only a few.

Dookeran said as the nation faces the possible imposition of a new Constitution without the population having had any real input, “we must conclude that in order for our nation to be able to truly celebrate its Independence, it must first be able to say that each and every citizen is independent.”