Mayaro Member of Parliament Rushton Paray says his public call for the national executive election of the United National Congress (UNC) to be held when constitutionally due should not be viewed as an attack on the leadership of the political leader.
In a statement, Paray said he was simply asking that the party’s internal election be called when it is due in June 2024 or risk losing the next general election due in 2025. He stated:
“I did not challenge the legitimacy of Ms Persad-Bissessar’s stewardship, whose electoral term as political leader expires in 2025. Of the mass of responses, I was most surprised by the almost identical statements of enduring loyalty to Ms Persad-Bissessar by some of my colleague Members of Parliament, councillors and other UNC officials, and the affirmation of ‘one party, one leader. I referred to my notes and a recording of my media conference to reconfirm that I did not suggest more than one party and a plurality of leaders. My intention was to ensure that the UNC become the best version of itself to stand up against the People’s National Movement in the upcoming general elections. “In nine years, the aimless PNM has devastated our country, with a crime crisis, extensive poverty, breakdown of the health, education and other sectors, destruction of the infrastructure, diminishing of the middle class, and other urgent issues. If the PNM retains national office at the next general election, it would be the first time in more than 40 years that it has won three successive national polls”.