Kamla: Vote for UNC love, not PNM lies

NAPARIMA College was transformed into a sea of yellow on Monday night, as the United National Congress (UNC) launched its slate of candidates for the local government elections on August 14.

Among them are Vanessa Kussie, the widow of Rishi Nagessar, one of the underwater welders who died in the Paria tragedy on February 25 last year, and  entertainer John Michael Alibocas, known as Makamillion.

Kussie's husband, along with fellow divers Fyzal Kurban, Kazim Ali Jr, Yusuf Henry and Christopher Boodram, was sucked into an undersea pipeline by a vortex created by a surge of water pressure known as a Delta P while doing repairs at a Paria marine facility in Pointe-a-Pierre. Boodram escaped but the other four died.

Kussie will contest one of the new seats in the Couva/Tabaquite/Talparo Regional Corporation, while Makamillion will seek the Marabella West seat for the UNC on the San Fernando City Corporation.

Opposition Leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar confirmed the UNC has formed a coalition with the National Transformation Alliance (NTA) and the Movement for National Development (MND). The group will field candidates in all 14 corporations on August 14.

Before a vibrant audience which filled every space in the school auditorium, Persad-Bissessar asserted that, more than ever, the country needed the new coalition to mend the broken pieces  the PNM had inflicted on the nation for the past eight years.

She reminded them of the 1986 accommodation which resulted in a resounding victory for the National Alliance for Reconstruction (NAR) and again in 2010 with the People's Partnership (PP).

“Are you ready and are you willing to make the country whole again?" she asked, receiving a resounding "Yes."

She acknowledged there were many sceptics who were questioning the value of local elections which they felt was a waste of time.

She said some were saying to come and vote for them and, in return, the electorate would get property tax and inheritance tax.

“Tax in your face, tax in your waist and tax all over the place, whether it is property tax, tyre tax, online tax, you name it.”

She warned the audience and the nation not to be fooled by "PNM lies" that the election was about local government reform. She said it was about tax and more tax.

“I want to tell you my vision when you come out to vote on August 14, what you are voting for our children and our future.

“Don’t think this is simple thing about UNC and PNM. What I said before: we must glue our nation whole for our children and our future. That is the love we have for you, that is what our great party and our candidates are going to do with love and service.

“We will take the broken fragments that this government has splintered this country with hate and we will do it with love.”

She urged candidates to base their campaign on love and service and not be swayed by hate and division.

She branded the political defectors who have left the UNC and joined the PNM as political opportunists.

Deputy political leader Jearlean John earlier said the defectors were fake UNC, as fake as her own hair extensions.