Kamla: PNM giving hampers, exemptions for votes

UNC leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar said information alleging that hampers are being sent to PNM operatives to be used to encourage people to vote for the PNM and information alleging that PNM supporters are being granted exemptions to return to TT for the August 10 general election, are in the hands of the UNC’s lawyers.

At a meeting hosted by the Ummah TT Muslim Federation in Felicity on Sunday, Persad-Bissessar claimed that hampers which were supposed to be sent to people who suffered economic hardship as a result of covid19 were sent to PNM operatives.

“They were actually sending it to PNM operatives at different addresses. You are taking state resources to fund political activity. You can’t do that.”

Afterwards, Persad-Bissessar told reporters, “The evidence that we have. I have placed it in the hands of our lawyers who will be working on them. I have seen the documents myself with addresses where PNM offices are located.”

She reiterated her call to National Security Minister Stuart Young to say how many people were granted exemptions to return to TT. Persad-Bissessar repeated the UNC’s claim that PNM supporters were being selectively granted exemptions to come home.

Asked if the UNC had evidence to support this allegation, Persad-Bissessar said, “We will get it to you. I have placed documents in the hands of our lawyers.”

Referring to statements made by the Prime Minister at a virtual public meeting in Diego Martin on Saturday, Persad-Bissessar declared, “This is the rant of a desperate man. He has nothing to offer, nothing to show that he has delivered. So he wants to go back to 2015.”

Dismissing Dr Rowley’s statements that the UNC was downplaying the seriousness of the covid19 pandemic and TT’s economic troubles were the result of the actions of her former PP government, Persad-Bissessar scoffed, “We are in 2020, man, get real.”

She continued, “He knows he is going to win an election or lose an election based on the lies and the narrative that he tells.” Persad-Bissessar added, “Clearly the writing is on the wall, he is going to lose this election.”

Saying the PNM was “cutting ribbon everywhere” as August 10 gets closer, Persad-Bissessar said, “Their behaviour is that of crazy ants – they just all over TT.”

She said, while Attorney General Faris Al-Rawi at sod turning ceremony in Marabella on Friday said certificates of comfort (CoCs) were worthless, Rowley was at a function on the same day in Enterprise, where CoCs were given to 27 people.

Describing the stranding of TT nationals overseas as the most shameless act committed by Government during the pandemic, Persad-Bissessar said, “But 300 people will come for CPL (Caribbean Premier League). Foreigners will come to CPL.”

After noting her husband Gregory’s love for the tournament, Persad-Bissessar said, “ I have nothing against CPL.” She reiterated that allowing certain people to enter TT while TT nationals could not “is a hypocrisy and a discrimination.”