Dookeran pledges commission to probe 1990 coup

Winston Dookeran received thunderous applause Wednesday night from the thousands gathered in Fyzabad as he declared Kamla Persad-Bissessar "your next Prime Minister."

He spoke of the historic significance of the venue for the meeting and said, "Charlie King junction \will give us a snap victory." He added, "we have come to seek your permission...to bring a new government to Trinidad and Tobago.

"We have come to endorse the candidacy of Kamla to be your elected PM on May 24. In so doing we must ensure...that we honour the trust of the people. And I happy that on this platform tonight we have patriots like Makandaal Daaga and Errol Mc Leod.

"Charlie King junction is creating its own history for yet another time. We are about to have the emergence of a new national movement...we must now thank Kamla...for making it possible.

"This people's partnership is the first step ... we shall have a national movement that will be sustainable and unbreakable as we embark on the responsibility ahead of us. Our work is cut out for us..."

He pledged to set up a commission to investigate the 1990 attempted coup for "all to see" because "this is what the people have been yearning for".

The former Central Bank governor said the economy is strong but the future is weak because the Manning regime doesn't know about economic management.

"If we allow this government to stay one more day in office we will have to go cap in hand to the international financial institutions", he said. He described the Manning's government's financial policies as "economic terrorism".

Dookeran warned that the Manning regime will engage in the politics of fear. But he said it will not work because the oppressed have said they cannot take it anymore. "When they use fear, we invoke hope," he said.

"The election is a choice between fear and freedom," he said.

"We shall remember what Martin Luther King said, 'let us not succumb to fear'...today I want to urge you here...let us not succumb to fear, let us embrace freedom," and he urged everyone to banish divisiveness.

"It is that freedom that will allow us to move ahead," he said.

"Let us embrace freedom. The time for change is now...May 24 is the time to rumble in the politics in this country...let us rumble together as one people to take back our land and let us bring love to our people," he declared.