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Prime Minister stands by her words
🇹🇹 Trinidad and Tobago /Elections & Politics

Prime Minister stands by her words

From Trinidad Express · () English

Translated from English and summarized by DistantNews. Read the original for the full story.

At a glance

News Named sources Context piece
  • Trinidad and Tobago Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar defended Independence Day remarks that criticized the People’s National Movement and rejected continued blame for the country’s colonial past.
  • She said Britain left Trinidad and Tobago with a strong economy, institutions and infrastructure in 1962, while later governments failed to prevent other countries from overtaking it.
  • Persad-Bissessar also defended her pledge to protect the United National Congress from criminal or elite interests and said she stood by every word.

Kamla Persad-Bissessar is refusing to soften the message that drew criticism on Trinidad and Tobago’s Independence Day. The prime minister said King Charles did not leave Beetham, Sea Lots and Laventille in their current condition. She blamed the People’s National Movement instead.

Persad-Bissessar issued two statements for Independence Day. In her national message, she said Trinidad and Tobago must accept responsibility for decisions made during 64 years of independence rather than continue blaming colonial rule. Britain, she argued, left the country with a strong economy, institutions and infrastructure in 1962, yet countries that once lagged behind Trinidad and Tobago have since surpassed it.

It’s the normal criticism from the usual deadbeats who have been cursing me for the last 16 years who I never bothered with before and never will.

— Kamla Persad-BissessarShe dismissed criticism of her Independence Day statements.

In a separate message to United National Congress members, she called for leadership that would strongly defend the party’s supporters. She also warned against criminal or elite interests capturing the UNC.

Asked by the Express whether she stood by the remarks, Persad-Bissessar replied: “It’s the normal criticism from the usual deadbeats who have been cursing me for the last 16 years who I never bothered with before and never will.”

The PNM put C.L.R. James under house arrest in 1965, they banned Stokely Carmichael, later Kwame Ture, from coming home.

— Kamla Persad-BissessarShe cited historical actions to accuse the opposition party of hypocrisy over race and Black Power.

She accused the PNM of falling back on “race grifting” and recalled its treatment of C.L.R. James and Stokely Carmichael, later known as Kwame Ture. She said the party renamed a damaged, potholed Port of Spain street after Carmichael while ignoring his persecution.

Persad-Bissessar described the PNM as a party “born in hatred, living in hatred and will die in hatred.” She said the party had used residents of Beetham, Sea Lots and Laventille for votes, then abandoned them to drug mafias and an elite she called fake. She also defended her decision to openly express love for and loyalty to the UNC, saying a person unable to defend their own family could not defend anyone else.

Hate is the PNM should be their motto.

— Kamla Persad-BissessarShe sharply criticized the People’s National Movement and its record in deprived communities.
About this summary

Originally published by Trinidad Express in English. Translated, summarized, and contextualized automatically by DistantNews, with a note on how the source frames the story. Not individually reviewed before publishing. How this works.

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