Griffith willing to work with other parties

POLITICAL LEADER of the National Transition Alliance Gary Griffith has said he is not only willing to continue its partnership with the UNC, which tied with the PNM in the August 14 local government elections, but intends to reach out to other parties to ensure citizens get the best representation possible.

“We are not here to compete,” Griffith said in a conversation with Newsday on Tuesday. “We are here to mend fences, build bridges and communicate with different political parties.

“I think the perception of forming a political party just to see other parties as the enemy… I am not into that type of politics. My job is not to divide, it is to build; it is not to destroy, it is to be productive. My goal is to bring as many political parties as possible together.

"And when we get into government it does not mean that only the political party’s supporters who are in government will also have a part to play in the governance of the country.”

He said he intends to have a style of politics that would involve communication and collaboration with other parties, even the PNM. He said the first people he reached out to as a political leader was the PNM, but the party refused his help.

“The current Commissioner of Police (Erla Harewood-Christopher) is no Jane Bond. The Minister of National Security is not the sharpest tool in the shed. And the result is the country is seeing one of the highest crime rates in TT’s history.

"I offered to help the Prime Minister, and he refused. It would seem that he would rather see the country drown in a river of blood than to be humble and accommodating. It says a lot about him as a political leader.

“I am more than willing to work with anyone. I don’t see, Dr Keith Rowley as the enemy, in fact I sometimes feel sorry for him, because his bitterness takes precedence over doing what is right. My job is not to see the Government fail; I would like the Government to succeed.

"But I do not think they can, and that is why I am in politics.”

Griffith said although the NTA did not win any seats, he still considered its campaign a success, as it made major inroads into "the heart" of PNM safe seats.

“People automatically count the number of seats a party won and use it as a measure of success. We could have easily formed an alliance with the UNC to win safe seats, and that would look like the NTA would have been a success.

"But that wasn’t my objective, and it is not how I deal with getting into anything competitive. We contested the 31 safest seats of the PNM and we were able to drastically reduce the gap...We have cut deep into the heart of PNM...the NTA drastically reducing the numbers in the PNM’s safe seats, that is a success.”

He added that the UNC’s ability to increase seats in Sangre Grande and taking a seat in San Fernando was also a result of the campaigning and work by the NTA.

“That is what teamwork is about,” he said. “So as much as some people would not like to hear it, we played a very big part in the PNM not getting Sangre Grande as they wished and taking away a seat from the PNM in San Fernando by asking our NTA supporters to vote UNC.

"That type of teamwork is what you will see continue going into the general election, where we will get to see the importance of a third party.”

Griffith thanked everyone involved in the NTA’s campaign.

The Elections and Boundaries Commission (EBC), in a statement later Tuesday, said the voter turnout for Monday's election was 30 per cent. It said the UNC won the popular vote with 173,961 against the PNM's 130,868. Both parties, however, polled less than they did in 2019's local government election, when the UNC secured 203,868 votes ahead of the PNM's 162,801 votes.