Opposition tells Independent Senators: Prepare for political blows

ACCUSING Independent Senators of “stepping out of their crease and into the political gayelle,” Opposition Leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar issued a warning for them to brace for political attack.

She said the days when conventions protected them from political attacks are over, as they have now declared their hand.

“The Opposition will fight back,” she said referring to last Thursday’s Electoral College sitting, when the Independent Bench voted with the Government against the removal of President Paula-Mae Weekes.

She spoke at the United National Congress (UNC) Virtual report on Monday night

“They have capitulated and taken sides with the Government. Some of their masks have slipped though. One of them was as silent as a lamb in the Parliamentary Chamber last Thursday, and he has now come out in the media to attack the Opposition and an Opposition Senator. He’s entered the political gayelle.”

Independent Senators Anthony Vieira and Paul Richards have been quoted as saying the UNC created a “fishmarket”-like atmosphere at last Thursday’s proceeding.

Vieira said he was offended by the UNC’s accusation that they were toeing the government line.

Persad-Bissessar said the notion of Independent Senators over the last 50 years "has bred the nasty idea that a portion of the population is somehow superior, and they look down on the others, calling them tribal, base, disrespectful and disgraceful. It’s an attractive concept for some, who will always mimic their views in order to be seen as part of the elite class. Panday (former Prime Minister Basdeo Panday) called them the parasitic oligarchy.

She called them "in essence...our own aristocracy, where these little barons and baronesses are handpicked, and they now want to lord it over the rest of us – relative unknowns are elevated and given the right to pontificate on Divali Nagar and to tell us what is respectable and who is disgraceful, because they are somehow above the ordinary citizens."

But, she charged, "They never say anything when the Prime Minister goes on political platforms and cusses those who oppose him.

“When all these independent Senators could jump out of themselves to criticise the Opposition for demanding the right to represent the views of the population, but they will never comment on serious allegations of political interference by the Prime Minister with respect to this appointment of a commissioner of police, ask yourself – who are they really representing?

She claimed, "Our democracy is being undermined."

IN the past, she said, "There has been a convention in our country that we do not openly attack the Independent Senators. But those days are over."

If if they stepped "into the political gayelle" on behalf of the People’s National Movement , she warned, the Opposition would retaliate.

“You will not be allowed to make all the disparaging comments against the Opposition, (and) not one, not one about the Government. Check yourself. We are on your case. We shall expose you for who you are.”

She said last Thursday all of the Government MPs and Senators, together with all the so-called Independent Senators (who are appointed by the President, and can be removed by her) voted to keep secret whether Rowley and President Weekes acted in concert to interfere in the Police Service Commission merit list for appointment to the post of CoP.

“They did not want the President to be investigated. They voted to treat her like a queen who cannot be questioned. They voted to keep the citizens in the dark, so that we can’t see all the wheeling and dealing in the nooks and crannies of the President’s House.

“For whatever reason, the Government and Independent Senators seem to like it so. We don’t, and we will continue to fight.”

She said becaue of the CoP controversy, “We have no CoP, no acting CoP and only one DCP and PSC.

“The country doesn’t know if the Prime Minister illegally influenced the commission or the President in his vendetta against former CoP Gary Griffith, or whether the President and PSC acted against the law in keeping the merit llst away from Parliament”

Last Thursday, Persad-Bissessar tore up the guidelines on the proceedingspresented by Speaker Brigid Anisette-George. The microphones of opposition members were muted, and loud objections were raised amidst charges democracy was being subverted.

She described the sitting as a "travesty of justice," but commended her team for their bravery, saying she was proud of their performance and contributions.

“The people’s House was hijacked by dictators. Despite their best efforts, the entire team fought side by side against the galloping dictatorship inside the Parliament, Team UNC persevered and fought until the last minute in the face of such an unprecedented assault on our Constitution and on our democracy.

“We followed the best tradition of Westminster parliamentary democracy, vigorously and robustly fighting for the rights of all of you as the Prime Minister and Executive overstepped their bounds.

Saying democracy will die if there is darkness, Persad-Bisessar cautioned, “If the PNM thinks that last Thursday was the end of our struggle to hold them to account, they have another think coming. They are wrong. They are woefully wrong. That was just the beginning.

“We will not let the PNM silence us. We will not let them get away with creating a dictatorship in our country, where the Prime Minister can do what he wants to choose a CoP, one that he likes, regardless of the law.

"it is our sacred duty to stop them.”