Crowds packed the St. Julien Presbyterian School in Princes Town on Thursday night to listen to the dynamic UNC Pavement Report, alongside over 3,000 online viewers from around the country and beyond.
Despite roadworks, which seemed purposely timed to prevent people from showing up to the meeting, and non-stop rainfall from 1 to 6pm, there was a massive turnout of enthusiastic supporters, at the very primary school where UNC founder, Basdeo Panday, walked to in his bare feet for seven years.
Fiery speakers Dr. David Lee, Saddam Hosein, Barry Padarath, and Dr. Roodal Moonilal, along with PTRC Chairman Gowrie Roopnarine and Councillor Alimah Ali, blasted the failed PNM Government and gave hope to the neglected citizens of Princes Town that the United National Congress will form a government that truly cares for all the people.
Chairman Gowrie Roopnarine noted that for the first time in his 22 years of service, the Regional Council now has to wait on funds to pay the last financial year’s projects. He pointed out that he worked with seven different Ministers of local government and every one visited the corporation to hear their challenges, to find out how they can work with the permanent secretary to ensure that some of the challenges are being solved. But this Minister of Local Government, Faris Al-Rawi, has never come to the region to listen to the cries of the people of Princes Town.
MP David Lee reminded the audience that the PNM have taken away more from this country than they have delivered in their 10 years of government. He declared that the return of Colm Imbert into the fold of the PNM is concrete evidence that the PNM under Stuart Young is exactly the same as the PNM under Rowley. MP Lee warned the crowd that now on the eve of the 2025 election they should brace themselves because the PNM will come again to fool the country with false promises about selling the Petrotrin refinery, like in before the general elections in 2020 and local elections in 2023.
He also called on the Minister of Energy Stuart Young to tell the country whether the Cabinet agreed to give the refinery to Oando PLC of Nigeria, which has been probed by the Nigerian Stock Exchange in 2017 and whose shares have been prohibited from being traded twice in 2024.
MP Lee also lambasted Stuart Young and the PNM Government for the injustice and inhumanity shown to the families and memory of the drowned Paria divers and the lone survivor, thanking MP Rudranath Indarsingh for keeping the issue alive, and calling on the public to join MP Indarsingh for the commemoration of the 3rd anniversary of the Paria Diving Tragedy on Saturday 22 February.
MP Saddam Hosein exposed the PNM’s interference and mismanagement of the police service, as revealed in the recent judicial review which quashed 169 promotions.
He revealed that the PNM involved itself in handpicking and selecting first division officers of the TTPS because it is those officers who determine whom to investigate, and for whom to secure warrants.
MP Hosein also asked serious questions about Odyssey, Inc., which received hundreds of thousands of taxpayers dollars for consultancy services, and which appears to have a director being a political appointee of Rowley. The Court found that this Company was ill-suited to conduct the promotion exercise.
MP Barry Padarath noted the recent visit of Stuart Young to the neighbouring constituency of Moruga/Tableland, pointing out that the only time they find themselves in Princes Town or Moruba/Tableland is election time.
MP Padarath also took Minister Marvin Gonzales to task, because he has been “bumping his gum all over the place” talking about a water racket, which in fact would never exist if the PNM solved the water supply problem in its 54 years of government.
In fact, in 2014, WASA indicated that 74% of Trinidad and Tobago had a 24/7 supply of water, which under Gonzales has reduced to 16%. This has made people desperate for water and provided the conditions for these rackets under his watch.
MP Padarath warned that the PNM would come with their repeated promises about desalination plants in Tobago and Moruga/Tablelenad, but he noted that none of the budget documents have any allocations for this. These are just empty promises to fool people for votes.
Dr. Roodal Moonilal lamented to the crowd that this country is unrecognisable from the paradise that Kamla Persad-Bissessar left in 2015, in every imaginable sphere.
He noted that the PNM have absolutely nothing to show for the past 10 years, and for this reason, they have revived the “Mickey Mouse business” with the EMBDC.
Dr. Moonilal noted that the corruption investigations into EMBDC and Life Sport have stalled, despite $1 billion being spent. There are no charges, no arrests, no criminal investigations in the matter. He did note that it appears that Minister Fitzgerald Hinds is putting pressure on the police to re-open the investigations.
The EMBD civil case, he noted, is a counterclaim against contractors who sued the EMBDC for non-payment. After the EMBD’s original counterclaim collapsed, they have now moved the goalposts by making new unproven allegations, just before the elections.
Moonilal also revealed that former EMBD Board members are currently looking at taking action against the EMBDC on the grounds of harassment and witness tampering, as lawyers continue to fish for information to try to build a case.
Dr. Moonilal also ridiculed the government for their nonsensical refusal to provide information under the Freedom of Information Act about lawyers hired by the Attorney-General’s office. Two explanations were given, both of which were embarrassing.
Firstly, the AG has indicated that given the prevailing crime situation in Trinidad and Tobago where extortion has been increasing and lawyers have become more frequent targets for criminals it is unreasonable to disclose in the public the fees earned by lawyers. Dr. Moonilal reminded the audience that the Government itself is responsible for the increased extortion and targeting of lawyers, due to its massive National Security failures.
Secondly, the AG’s office wrote in their objection that revealing the names of the attorneys may expose them to defamatory and degrading statements, such as calling them “eat ah food lawyers”. Moonilal amusingly noted that the AG’s office has now institutionalised the term.
The crowd loved the information, and were enthusiastically ready to get rid of the PNM and re-install the UNC in Government.
The UNC continues its dynamic political mobilisation and community outreach activities throughout the country, as it gets ready for the 2025 General Elections.
The recording of the meeting can be found on the UNC YouTube channel here: https://www.youtube.com/
Pictures can be downloaded from the UNC Facebook page here: https://www.facebook.
Dr. Kirk Meighoo
