UNC activist: No hope for Trinidad and Tobago

UNC activist Marsha Walker claimed the ceremonial opening of the new parliamentary term on Monday will lay bare to the population that neither the Government nor the Opposition offers them any hope for a brighter future.

In a TikTok video released on September 9, Walker said," Our country's murder rate is at an all-time high. Our economy is at an all-time low. The PNM is destroying this country."

She added, "It is a really sad day for Trinidad and Tobago as we prepare to open our Parliament. No alternative, no viable option (to the PNM)."

While Walker believed the UNC could save TT, she reiterated it could not do this while Opposition Leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar and her loyalists continue to control the party.

Walker told Persad-Bissessar "to get over this election to the blue lights."

She repeated her call for Persad-Bissessar to resign as UNC political leader and "pave the way for the young, fresh, energetic, brilliant UNC members that are willing to take over the reins and see our country into a better place."

She claimed that Persad-Bissessar is surrounding herself with recycled politicians, "yes men" and people engaged in immoral and unethical acts.

Walker also claimed these people were posting their acts on social media.

Walker questioned the continued narrative by current and former UNC members that the party won a resounding victory in last month's local government elections.

The elections ended in a 7-7 tie between the PNM and UNC. The voter turnout was 30.4 per cent. Approximately 1,078,651 people were eligible to vote.

Walker, who unsuccessfully contested a district in the PNM-controlled Diego Martin Borough Corporation, has been at odds with Persad-Bissessar and the party's leadership about what the election results mean.

Persad-Bissessar boasted the results meant the UNC was on course to victory in the next general election, constitutionally due in 2025. She also boasted that the UNC and its coalition partner, the National Transformation Alliance (NTA), had made significant inroads into what were considered PNM electoral strongholds.

In a WhatsApp message to Newsday on September 1, Walker said, "Now it is time for us to admit that the country sent both PNM and UNC a message – We don't want (Dr) Rowley, but we don't want Kamla either."

She added that for Persad-Bissessar to describe the lowest voter turnout in 43 years as a resounding victory for the UNC "tells me that she is wilfully being tone deaf to the electorate."

Walker recalled the UNC's "Don't tote, vote" campaign slogan.

"We chanted it at every meeting. Our campaign was based on pulling citizens out to send Rowley a message."

Walker said since the elections, no one in the UNC is listening to her concerns that the party does not understand the clear message that voters sent it last month.

"They are not listening to anything or anyone, because listening requires uncomfortable change."

After the swearing-in of aldermen at the Siparia Borough Corporation on August 30, Persad-Bissessar dismissed Walker's calls for her to resign as UNC leader.

She also said Walker had never brought her concerns to her attention.

Walker also questioned former UNC MP Dr Surujrattan Rambachan's comments at a training session last week for UNC local government elected representatives that Persad-Bissessar democratically elected in the UNC's internal elections last June and the will of the vast majority of the party's membership must be respected.

"No. They (majority of UNC members) stayed home (last June). "

Walker said most UNC members had the same view of Persad-Bissessar last June as the estimated 700,000 people who did not vote in last month's elections.

"She is not a viable alternative (to the Prime Minister). She is not an option."

Walker warned her UNC colleagues that the party through its actions, continues to insult the electorate's intelligence and especially that of young people.

"They will never vote for us if we continue to insult them with basic things like telling the truth about data that we can find, that we can google."

Former People's Partnership minister Devant Maharaj agreed with Walker.

"Neglecting these concerns could perpetuate the perception of a party ill-equipped to offer the dynamic leadership that TT's political landscape demands."