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Kamla Responds to Paray’s Late Invitation
Posted On 25 May 2024
Opposition Leader Hon Kamla Persad-Bissessar
Mr. Rushton Paray,
I refer to your emailed correspondence dated Friday, May 24, 2024, which I received at
10.33 pm, inviting me to attend your campaign launch on Saturday, May 25, 2024, at 7:00
pm.
Notably, this invite has been issued at totally short notice—less than 24 hours before the event. I find this a curious deviation from general etiquette.
I respond as follows:
1. With reference to your first point where you state: “I wish to express my gratitude for your decision to call our party’s internal elections” :
(a). I remind you of my ongoing, widely published, consistent comments regarding my track record and stated intention of calling the UNC’s internal elections when they are constitutionally due.
(b). Notably, since I assumed leadership of the party on May 24, 2010, internal elections under my watch were held, as constitutionally due on 24 March 2012, 5
December 2015, 26 November 2017, 6 December 2020, 26 June 2022, and now 15
June 2024.
(c). Therefore, there is no need for anyone to thank me for doing my duty as political leader, and adhering to the UNC’s constitution, especially since my track record of same speaks volumes for itself.
(d). I reiterate that it is highly dishonest for anyone, be they a Member of Parliament or an ordinary person, to attempt to mislead/and or outrightly deceive our party’s membership into believing that the leadership has sought to disenfranchise said membership by not adhering to the UNC Constitution re the calling of internal elections when they are due.
(e). One can only surmise that anyone engaging in such questionable conduct is in fact governed by purely sinister motives— a desire to create mischief; self-serving personal ambition; or both.
2. With reference to your second point where you state: “As my Political Leader, should my team be successful, I commit to working closely with you to strengthen our party”:
(a). I am indeed surprised that you now profess a desire to work with me, given that I am fully cognizant of the public utterances to the contrary made by yourself and your team members. I cite just some references of same hereunder:
• Rambally, Kamla must go https://youtu.be/n_8vBD3RpCw?si=vw5CVXAdVNJyu0Gx
• Chaguanas West MP Dinesh Rambally, slams the leadership of the UNC political leader, Mrs Kamla Persad Bissessar
https://www.facebook.com/share/v/wjo1x6GTD2vjMjgj/?mibextid=oFDknk
• Rambally has No Confidence in Kamla https://azpnews.com/rambally-has-no-confidence-in-kamla/
• Rambally slams Kamla’s leadership of UNC; wants her out ‘Cult-like behaviour will destroy party’
https://www.cnc3.co.tt/rambally-slams-kamlas-leadership-of-unc-wants-her-outcult-like- behaviour-will-destroy-party/#google_vignette
• Rambally questions Kamla’s leadership
https://www.cnc3.co.tt/rambally-questions-kamlas-leadership/
• UNC will lose: Rambally blasts Kamla’s leadership: https://trinidadexpress.com/news/local/unc-will-lose/article_d3b10d0e-f939-11ee-991a- cf493f89ae12.html
• Rambally slams Kamla: Announce internal elections date now https://tt.loopnews.com/content/rambally-slams-kamla-announce-internal-elections-date- now
• Frustrated UNC MP speaks out against leadership of the UNC. https://www.facebook.com/share/v/Uz7bmXJa9F9J1e8m/?mibextid=oFDknk
• Rambally to Kamla: No one is trying to control you https://www.guardian.co.tt/news/rambally-to-kamla-no-one-is-trying-to-control-you-
6.2.1977346.df6acf14ba
• Rodney Charles: Old politicians failing Trinidad and Tobago https://newsday.co.tt/2024/04/19/rodney-charles-old-politicians-failing-trinidad-and- tobago/
• Rodney Charles Press conference https://www.youtube.com/live/vTltQTOv5Xg?si=9dlesy6QhyD-5mE5
• Charles: New Generation of Leaders Needed https://www.tv6tnt.com/news/7pmnews/charles-new-generation-of-leaders- needed/article_373f0d68-feb1-11ee-9980-ff4957307ae0.html#google_vignette
• Common decency demands Kamla’s resignation – Rambally https://trinidadexpress.com/opinion/letters/common-decency-demands-kamla-s- resignation—rambally/article_f2cd703c-0290-11ef-9868-0fd706837281.html
• MP Paray Responding to false accusations made by Mrs Kamla Persad Bissessar https://www.facebook.com/share/p/id7LMcMZcooebBoR/?mibextid=oFDknk
• Anita defends ‘personal integrity’ against Kamla’s comments https://www.cnc3.co.tt/anita-defends-personal-integrity-against-kamlas- comments/#google_vignette
• Madam leader, MPs are human too https://newsday.co.tt/2024/04/29/madam-leader-mps-are-human-too/
• Charles to Kamla Persad Bissessar: Plain talk bad manners https://www.facebook.com/share/p/PwC8EYAR9nHpH75m/?mibextid=oFDknk
• Rambally: UNC not winning under Kamla https://newsday.co.tt/2024/04/30/rambally-unc-not-winning-under-kamla/
• Paray takes on Kamla: ‘Call internal poll or UNC will lose general election again’
https://trinidadexpress.com/news/local/paray-takes-on-kamla/article_8821295c-e8c0-
11ee-b463-c3620366d010.html#google_vignette
• Anita Haynes in the spotlight : UNC needs new blood fresh faces https://www.guardian.co.tt/news/unc-needs-new-blood-and-fresh-faces-
6.2.1994306.bcba3d30e5
• ‘The UNC is not one person’ :Four MPs call for new leadership
https://trinidadexpress.com/news/local/the-unc-is-not-one-person/article_22914a0e-170f-
11ef-8ac3-0795d7ab1f54.html#google_vignette
• Paray: Kamla wants to be Opposition leader for life. https://tt.loopnews.com/content/paray-kamla-wants-be-opposition-leader-life
• Paray : I do not fear Expulsion from the UNC
• Ragbir backs Rushton’s call for UNC shake-up
… Persad-Bissessar must go toohttps://www.guardian.co.tt/news/ragbir-backs-rushtons-call- for-unc-shakeup-6.2.1957412.9903734520
• Paray: If I’m called, I’ll lead
https://trinidadexpress.com/news/local/paray-if-i-m-called-i-ll-lead/article_343ff6f2-e40a-
11ee-ba62-3bde7b05a77d.html
• Rodney Charles, ageing Kamla, Keith should name their successors https://newsday.co.tt/2024/04/17/rodney-charles-ageing-kamla-keith-should-name-their- successors-now/
• “We can’t win under Kamla”
• Dissidents’ didn’t know about vote; slam Kamla for ‘unethical attacks’ https://www.guardian.co.tt/news/dissidents-didnt-know-about-vote-slam-kamla-for- unethical-attacks-6.2.1989373.1fab3ba3a3#google_vignette
• Rai: Kamla’s attack reeks of desperation
https://www.guardian.co.tt/news/kamlas-attack-on-mps-reeks-of-desperation–mp-ragbir-
6.2.1989885.517b119479
• Rambally slams Kamla’s leadership, wants her out https://www.guardian.co.tt/news/rambally-slams-kamlas-leadership-of-unc-wants-her-out-
6.2.1974858.6a7b365dd5
• Charles calls on Rowley, Kamla to join him in retirement https://www.guardian.co.tt/news/charles-calls-on-rowley-kamla-to-join-him-in-retirement-
6.2.1981047.a4936701cc
• Charles trashes Kamla’s attendance at Parliament
https://www.guardian.co.tt/news/charles-trashes-kamlas-attendance-in-parliament-
6.2.1990314.95255d6640
• Charles threatens to expose UNC campaign secrets https://newsday.co.tt/2024/05/21/charles-threatens-to-expose-unc-campaign-secrets/
• Rambally Slams Kamla’s failed Leadership https://newsday.co.tt/2024/04/12/rambally-slams-kamlas-failed-leadership/
• Rambally: UNC not winning under Kamla https://newsday.co.tt/2024/04/30/rambally-unc-not-winning-under-kamla/
(b). Further, I note the conspicuous absence of you and your cohorts at the Parliamentary Sitting of April 26, 2024, where you consequently failed to support the UNC Parliamentary Team in defeating the PNM Government in a historic vote re the Motion to extend the time for the Auditor General’s 2023 Report.
(c). I therefore request that you provide clarification on these aforementioned issues to afford me better guidance in my due consideration of your invitation.
3. With reference to your third point where you state: “My slate, aptly named
“United Patriots”:
(a). I note that I view all members of the great UNC party as patriots.
(b). I find it passing strange that you have opted to call your team ‘United Patriots’, given that there is another fledgling political party named ‘Patriotic Front’, and given the PNM’s widespread, ongoing accusations that the UNC and its members have never been ‘patriots’ of Trinidad and Tobago.
(c). Such curious linkages do not appear to be circumstantial, and therefore one can justly and reasonably conclude that such a name for your slate in fact purports to endorse a false, malicious, damaging PNM narrative against the great, faithful, and loyal members of the UNC.
(d). Again, I seek clarification of same to afford me better guidance in my due consideration of your invitation.
4. With reference to your fourth point where you state: “It is my pleasure to invite
you to attend this event as a valued member of our party” :
(a). I remind you of the fact that, beyond being a ‘valued member of the party’, I am the duly elected Political Leader of the UNC, a post I have held and consecutively retained for the past 14 years via endorsement of the vast majority of our party’s membership in all respective internal elections. Acknowledgement of same is therefore in keeping with due process and proper protocol.
(b). I also remind you, as such extensive background information may not be the
purview of most newcomers to our party, that, in terms of one’s presumed value as
a party member, I have given the UNC over three decades of committed, devoted, ongoing active membership/activism/service that remains, to date, unparalleled.
(c). This includes having served the party, prior to my assumption of the post of Political Leader in 2010, as its Deputy Political Leader, Opposition Leader, as well as having held key Cabinet roles in our two terms in Government, inclusive of Attorney General, Legal Affairs Minister, Education Minister and Prime Minister.
(d). I have also been the party’s unopposed choice as the Member of Parliament for
Siparia for 29 consecutive years.
(e). I also remind you of the fact that on at least two occasions of recent vintage, I
agreed to your requests to meet with you.
(f). Indeed, it was YOU who opted to break these appointments, citing other, presumably more important engagements and priorities to attend to.
5. With reference to your fifth point where you state: “During the event, we will
present our plans and proposals for the future”:
(a). I note that, despite having been a UNC MP for the past nine years, you have consistently failed to offer anything constructive to the development of the UNC throughout your tenure.
(b). On the last occasion in which you sent me so called ‘plans and proposals’, I discovered that they were previously sent to me by another member of the party. I in fact pointed this out to you in an email, and you acknowledged without contradiction or further explanation of same.
(c). Despite your professions, your actions and public utterances in the past three months can be validly viewed as nothing short of a devious, destructive attempt to destabilize the UNC in a significant manner and endanger our considerable political progress, which can be seen as the ultimate betrayal to our great membership.
6. With reference to your sixth point where you state: “I firmly believe that a stronger UNC leads to a stronger Trinidad and Tobago”:
(a). I do believe that the UNC is strongest than it has ever been, and I do believe that the UNC will therefore win the next General Elections, despite attempts by others with highly questionable, sinister agendas to achieve the opposite.
(b). Indeed, the facts show that since 2020, under my leadership, the UNC has become the most popular party in Trinidad in terms of votes (309,180 for the UNC vs. 305,850 for the PNM).
(c). Notably, in 2020, the UNC got the most votes it ever got in its history and regained its majority in Trinidad. (In 2000, the UNC got 307,791 votes, which was
51.7% of all votes cast at that time.)
(d). In the 2020 battle, the UNC not only retained all seats it held prior to the election, but also won an additional seat previously held by the PNM.
(e). The UNC only lost the 2020 elections by 2,530 votes, in St. Joseph (823 votes)
and San Fernando West (1,705 votes).
(f). This progress continued in the 2023 Local Government elections, with many
PNM electoral districts, even in strongholds like Arima, now becoming marginal.
(g). This is a deep trend which is not stopping. The PNM lost more than 56,000 votes from 2015 to 2020.
(h). In local government elections, the PNM lost almost 44,000 votes from 2016 to
2023. The UNC gained a majority of seats in 2023 and triumphed in the popular
vote.
(i). There is only a slim majority in Parliament of just 22 seats to 19 seats. There are times when the UNC has a majority in Parliament, when PNM members are absent playing golf in Barbados, sick, or just lazy and do not show up.
(j). The UNC’s tremendous work in Parliament, on the ground and on traditional and
social media have the PNM on the back foot.
I therefore reaffirm that I await your clarification on these matters set out above.
