(Acting PM Winston Dookeran and his wife, Shirley)Winston Dookeran praised Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar Saturday night and thanked her for making the People's Partnership possible.
Speaking at an appreciation dinner in San Fernnando, the acting prime minister and leader of the Congress of the People (COP) said it was Persad-Bissessar who suggested that the various political groups get together as a "partnership".
Dookeran said, "It was our Prime Minister, Kamla Persad- Bissessar, who coined the term “partnership” in our discussions, and I want to say that publicly here today.
"When we were trying to find the right term to bring about this grouping she came up with the idea of “partnership”. And today, in her own way, she has been able to continue to inspire this country in giving us a new path for the future, and we are here to make it a reality."
Dookeran, who is the finance minister in the People's Partnership (PP) government, also said the PP has been a real creation in the country’s politics.
"I think I can say with great certainty, that we have broken the back of old politics in Trinidad and Tobago now, and this has been due to all those who came together from different dimensions. The Partnership experience is an expression of the new politics in Trinidad and Tobago," he said.
Dookeran added, "There is no way that the old politics can emerge, unless and until, we do not do the job that we have to do."
He thanked and congratulated candidates who offered themselves to fight seats in the local government elections.
"What you have done, given how they defined hard seats, all those who have been elected here from Tunapuna to San Fernando, from Diego Martin to Arima, you have made hard seats easy in Trinidad and Tobago.
"And that’s a tradition that no one can take away from you, because that is the foundation of building the new paradigm in politics. That is the foundation which will construct the new politics," he said.
Dookeran added that his appointment as acting prime minister is an expression of pride in the people, "those who supported the idea of the change in Trinidad and Tobago. I say to you, thank you all so much for making that possible."
The acting PM said he was pleased to learn that there "might be members of the other political party in opposition" present at the event.
"I said it in Tunapuna on the night of our victory, that our victory is not a victory for the COP, it is not victory for the UNC, but it is also a victory for the PNM, and we must bring in a new kind of politics in Trinidad and Tobago including everyone with one major objective, which is to serve, to serve, to serve.
"We now know that phrase, and to be able to create the Trinidad and Tobago that we know is not illusionary, but is real and ahead of us," he said.
He thanked his party for believing in the idea of new politics of inclusion.
"So tonight is but a moment of appreciation for all the hard work that you have done, for all the expressions of genuine hope that you had kept faith in...I was indeed honoured and I continue to be honoured, to have been given the opportunity to be your political leader for the last few years," Dookeran stated.
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