PEP says no to UNC's alliance invite

LEADER of the Progressive Empowerment Party (PEP) Phillip Edward Alexander has said the Opposition Leader's call to join forces against the PNM is an admission that the UNC is incapable of beating the PNM in the local government elections.

During the UNC’s Monday Night Forum, Kamla Persad-Bissessar said the UNC had held discussions with other parties and would have further discussions on going up against the PNM.

She said if the proposed coalition is successful in the August 14 local government elections, the next big step will be repeating a PNM defeat in the 2025 general election.

“The UNC is the only national party who will welcome them and say, 'Let us work together.' We have done it before. We have brought desperate groups to come together to form a mighty force to unseat and remove this wicked PNM government.

"Tonight I make an appeal: let us all unite and come together to remove the wicked Rowley government.”

Alexander, who will hold a media conference on
Wednesday to discuss his own coalition, said the country wants change from both PNM and UNC, and another amalgamation of political parties is not what it wants.

"Her call was disrespectful and last-minute. It is an admission that she can’t win against the Keith Rowley PNM.

"The country wants new vibrant people with their plans and policies to rescue the country. We are here for all the disenchanted and those who feel left behind. This unification is of no material value for the country."

Public relations officer of the PNM Faris Al-Rawi said the proposed joining of forces does not affect the PNM, as it is focused on its policies and bringing local government reform to the people, which will take power and money out of the hands of central government and give it to local government officials.

“Kamla Persad-Bissessar is someone to watch with a cokey-eye. I will be shocked if any progressive political party wants to join forces with the backwardness of her opposing local government reform policies.”

Al-Rawi said he is not fazed by the fact that the PNM was beaten in two general elections by coalition governments in the past. He said the party is now focused on promoting the merits of its local government reform and meeting contenders at the polls.

Leader of the National Transformation Alliance (NTA) Gary Griffith, who was a cabinet member in the 2010-2015 UNC-led coalition, the People’s Partnership government, said the focus should be more on uniting the country than political parties joining forces.

Officials in his party, however, said the NTA and UNC will hold talks soon.

Public relations officer of the UNC Dr Kirk Meighoo said the UNC has mechanisms it will implement that will ensure any coalition does not suffer the same fate as the People’s Partnership, which collapsed before the end of its five-year term.

He did not want to disclose what those measures were, saying other parties may have an input to better solidify a union.

Asked about the UNC currently screening candidates for the elections and its impact on a proposed unification with other parties, Meighoo said nomination day, June 26, is two weeks away, and if necessary, some candidates who were selected may have to be recalled.

He also rubbished Alexander’s argument that the UNC wasunable to defeat the PNM, saying: “It requires a national effort to rebuild the country after the PNM destroyed it. We want to include everyone and give them a chance at the table. We believe in unifying the country as it is in our name.”

Meighoo did not say which political parties or how many the UNC had met, only confirming that the Movement for National Development, a party formed by Garvin Nicholas, an attorney general in the People’s Partnership government, is willing to join forces.