THC leader: Independent representation in Parliament is important

AS voters head to the polls in the April 28 general election, there will be a wide range of options to consider as 17 political parties and 161 candidates will contest the 41 constituencies across the country.

Among this year's contenders is the Trinidad Humanity Campaign (THC), which will be participating in its fourth general election.

Newsday spoke to the political leader, Marcus Ramkissoon, by telephone on April 16, who urged the public to consider having independent representation in the parliament.

"You have a government administration with its members and a number of opposition members, which we are accustomed to.

"But what if there were two, three, or four independent members that could sway the tide of a legislative document in the parliament?"

Ramkisoon said political "badmind" has hindered legislature from going forward in the past, hence the importance of having independent opposition within the parliament.

Ramkissoon formed the THC in 2010 after being a volunteer radio talk show host in 2009.

"The programme was a three-hour one that dealt with problems and solutions in the country. I realised the problems people were raising were issues that were prevalent ten -15 years prior to that.

"A lot of citizens had very innovative and simple solutions, which one would think, when applied, would work."

Ramkissoon said it made him wonder why those elected to run the country would not apply these solutions.

"Was it that they are not aware of such solutions? Or were they simply ignoring them?"

He said the party was formed to offer a different choice to the electorate.

"We realised there was a massive gap of people who were registered to vote but did not, for whatever reason.

"One of those reasons we found was due to the unavailability of credible choices at that time in the country's political scene."

Since its formation, the THC has contested the 2010, 2015 and 2020 general elections and the 2023 local government election.

Ramkissoon noted the THC was the fourth-largest party among the 19 that contested the 2020 general election.

That year, the party fielded seven candidates and secured a total of 366 votes. Of those, 106 were cast for Linnell Doolan in the Couva South constituency.

"We're neither new or small. We have had our manifesto in each of the years go out on our social media pages."

He said the party's manifesto has been out since the beginning of April.

"It's not much different from our previous three manifestoes because a lot of the issues have not changed."

The 47-page document highlights ten topics, with strong emphasis on crime, security, and justice; education; health; economy; and agriculture and food security.

This year, the party will be fielding three candidates.

Ramkissoon will be contesting the Aranguez/St Joseph seat while Leshawn Gopee and Christopher Mathura will battle for the crucial Tunapuna and St Augustine seats respectively.

THC's body of work

Asked what the THC has done in the last five years, Ramkissoon said the party has been active.

"People usually want to hear that we have been on the ground and campaigning, but we don't do that.

"It makes no sense to us as a party to campaign and make promises that we are not in an elected position to fulfil. We would be promising you more than we can attain. Our goal has always been to do what we can achieve."

Ramkissoon said over the past five years, he has earned three master’s degrees and is now pursuing a PhD in Criminology and Public Safety – not merely for academic pursuit, but to prove through research policy points his party has been pushing.

"I will be switching to food science next, because we actually got most of those points to be adopted by the government."

Ramkissoon said he was also crucial in the 2019 cannabis decriminalisation law.

"I was hired by the government as the sole consultant to write the primary and subsidiary legislation for cannabis."

A law, Ramkissoon said, has seen reduced the cannabis cases at the magistrates court level.

"Additionally, it has given the forensics department of the police service more time to work on more serious cases," Ramkissoon said.

"We have also saved the state millions in incarceration and prosecution fees."

Ramkissoon claimed he did not take any money for doing this job.

"Because I went to the media in advance of getting that job and said if given the job I would do it for free, I turned down a multimillion-dollar salary.

"We have three candidates in this election, $15,000 in deposits, and I had to borrow $5,000. So it's not like I don't need a multimillion-dollar pay cheque, but because I said I would do it for free, I am a man of my word, and integrity is something that is rare in this population, so I kept to my word."

Ramkissson said he and his party have been putting plans forward to the government on crime reduction, campaign finance legislation, and corruption.

"We have been extremely effective as a non-elected entity.

"I have to ask the population, imagine what we can do if we are elected."

He said the public's reception – from those who take the time to listen – has been excellent and hopes the electorate makes a wise decision this election.

"Many citizens treat an election like a football game, where they 'choose a side,' forgetting the past experiences with both their sides.

"We, the owners of the country, need to hire a team to manage our very substantial resources on behalf of all of us. We hope the population one day votes on issues and not on party or for partying."