Kamla responds

OPPOSITION Leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar said her description of the Prime Minister as an “Oreo” was not racist but may have been insensitive.

“I do take note of comments by some that there may have been some insensitivity, but there was not an iota of racism in my statements. My track record in public life speaks for itself. I acknowledge that relevant truths can be spoken with less sensitive words in future.”

She vowed to not be drawn into a desperate attempt by the PNM to shift public attention away from real issues. “The PNM’s history has always been to distract the public attention away from their incompetence and the hardship that they inflict on poor suffering people in our country.”

She spoke of a quiet revolution world-wide where citizens no longer let themselves be used as gatekeepers and doormats. “Whilst the old guard desperately seeks to maintain control, we are fighting to change the status quo so there can be equality of treatment and opportunity for all.

“The old guard or the one percent is not confined to any one race or ethnic group. It is a group of persons of various backgrounds, races and ethnicities whose only concern is the accumulation of wealth at the expense of the wider society.”

She said this alleged failed government is desperately resorting to race baiting to distract from pressing issues such as closure at Petrotrin, joblessness, a high cost of living, crime and the upcoming budget.

“My comments on Monday were about Rowley’s duplicitous nature. His choices seem specifically aimed at benefiting the elite, his friends and financiers, while the rest of the population suffers.

“He is not a man who cares for the average person.” Persad-Bissessar said the PM had last week threatened to jail and sue workers for protesting retrenchment. “This takes us back to colonial 1937 when the British colonial elites terrorized the Butler labour movement with threats of violence and jail.”

She likened the Rowley Government’s behaviour to that of the colonial masters towards the workers and the poor, causing severe social and economic destruction.