Opposition leaders say Manning is panicking

Patrick Manning told supporters last week he win the May 24 general election despite the confidence of the opposition. "Licks like fire in this election!" he told the PNM faithful in Palo Seco.

But the opposition isn't bothered with the campaign rhetoric. In fact, the leader of the United National Congress (UC) sees it as panic.

Kamla Persad-Bissessar believes Manning is desperate and clutching at straws. It's a view shared by her colleague, Winston Dookeran, the political leader of the Congress of the People (COP).

Persad-Bissessar said Manning's focus on attacking members of the opposition and the refusal to let American strategist Bernard Campbell enter the country are sure signs of desperation.

"I think he is a scared man. I believe he is panicking and they will use every dirty trick in the book to win the election," she told the Trinidad Express.

She had a message for those who wish to remove the manning government from office. "We must continue to remain focused and to work very hard to ensure the people of the country get the change they are longing for and hoping for."

She added, "Our supporters must not become complacent thinking the battle is over, it is not over until the last vote is counted," she said.

She told the paper support for the united opposition is growing, adding that people are ready for change. However she warned that Manning will continue his attacks.

Dookeran believes Manning’s behaviour demonstrated that he has lost control. He told the Express, "I think he has panicked a long time and now we are seeing the expression of a Government that has collapsed mid-term and he really does not know what to do to restore the confidence."

Dookeran said Manning's pronouncements are agitating the people more and more. This is natural and to be expected.

Manning has told people there is a plot in the opposition alliance to get rid of Dookeran by putting him to run in Tunapuna instead of the safe St Augustine, the seat that he won in 2002 and was held by the UNC in the last Parliament.

Dookeran called that "a clear indication of his growing fear and desperation at the prospect of losing power".

In a media release he said, "Clearly, Mr Manning is out of touch with the waves of change sweeping the world that have finally reached Trinidad and Tobago."

COP added, "Further evidence of the Prime Minister’s growing loss of credibility is found in the statement made by long-time Laventille leader and political activist, Mohammed Shabaaz, who described Manning’s promise of $300 million to Laventille as mamaguay."