Kamla One Signature Short of Becoming Opposition Leader, Will Lead Debate in House Wednesday

UNC leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar is poised to replace her former boss, Basdeo Panday, as the official Leader of the Opposition in the House of Representatives.

Persad-Bissessar revealed a draft letter of endorsement signed by 7 UNC Members of Parliament to the media following her second meeting with the UNC's Parliamentary and National Executive meeting Tuesday.

Panday, his brother Subhas Panday, daughter Mickela Panday, Vasant Bharath, Kelvin Ramnath, and Hamza Rafeeq were not present at the meeting. Tim Gopeesingh was excused because he had to attend to an urgent family matter.

When asked to reveal the names of the 7 MPs supporting her for the post of Leader of the Opposition, Persad-Bissessar declined for sake of privacy of the MPs. "When the letter is submitted, we will let you know," she told reporters.

Sources have told JYOTI that the Roodal Moonilal and Chandresh Sharma are on board but Tim Gopeesingh is still considering his options.

In the absence of many of the MPs, the caucus decided that Persad-Bissessar will lead debate Wednesday in the House of Representatives on the bill to establish the new Trinidad and Tobago Revenue Authority.

Persad- Bissessar said the bill provides for the establishment of a private company like UDeCOTT to be created so, "the sweethearts of the government" will be running the show without adequate checks and balances, making the situation ripe for corruption.

The bill lacks provision for the 2000 workers who will be displaced, she said, showing "the government's disdain for workers."

The caucus also discussed the upcoming local government election and the membership drive. The political leader told reporters the party has established a committee headed by deputy leader Dr Suruj Rambachan to deal with all matters related to local government and local government elections.

On the membership that the party launched last week, Persad-Bissessar announced that 7,987 membership forms had been distributed and that within one week, more than 500 members have been signed on to the UNC.

"I am happy to report that we have received as of today (Tuesday), within one week, over 500 completed membership forms...and these are coming from Morvant, Maraval, Diego Martin, Duncan Street, Paramin, Laventille, " Persad-Bissessar told media.