MSJ not prepared to deal with hard work—McLeod

Former leader of the Movement for Social Justice (MSJ) and Labour Minister Errol McLeod says he will not leave the Government. In a strong condemnation of his former party colleagues, McLeod described the MSJ as indisciplined. He said the MSJ left the Government because those in the party were not prepared to deal with the hard work of governance.

McLeod made the statement during the People’s Partnership Monday night forum held at the Siparia constituency office in Penal. He also reminded supporters that April 21 was the third anniversary of the Fyzabad Declaration which gave birth to the five-party coalition, of which he was one of the leaders. “Some people wanted me to walk out on the house that we contributed to building…I am not walking out of the house I contributed to building for them,” he said.

“Even as they demanded that I walk out, they were expecting that some miracle would be worked and that all the labour reform that we promised on April 21, 2010, they expected that to be delivered tomorrow.” He said he had to borrow a party symbol from Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar since the MSJ dropped out in 2010, citing poor governance as the basis for the party’s decision.

However, McLeod said while MSJ members were enthusiastic about being part of the Government in 2010, they did not have the virtue of patience. “I happened to be among the five leaders who gave birth to the People’s Partnership, under the leadership of the Honourable Kamla Persad-Bissessar,” he said. “Some of us, we were full of enthusiasm, we were ready to roll, but some of us were not prepared for the speed by which we were rolling.

“There were some of us who thought that we would get all that we asked for, all that we demanded, at the time we demanded it.”

Guardian