People's Partnership remains strong, leaders pledge to strengthen government

Partnership leaders today: David Abdullah, Ashworth Jack, Kamla Persad-Bissessar, Prakash Ramadhar and Makandal Daaga

File: The original five founding leaders of the People's Partnership. Since the formation in April 2010 two leaders have changed. Winston Dookeran did not contest the leadership of the Congress of the People and was replaced by Prakash Ramadhar. Errol McLeod resigned from the Movement for Social Justice and the leadership was handed to David Abdullah

The Leaders of the individual units in the People’s Partnership reported on Friday that following their meeting on Thursday they remain fully committed to the coalition.

The meeting was held at the Diplomatic Centre and included the five leaders. There was no specific agenda, which allowed each leader to place issues on the table for discussion.

In a media release, the leaders said they re-committed to the continued success of the Partnership and Government on the basis of the Fyzabad Accord.

To this end they agreed to hold regular meetings in order to fully discuss all the items tabled. The leaders further agreed to address:

• The functioning and structuring of the Partnership in the context of its continued growth and strengthening in every respect 
• The rules of engagement by each party in the Partnership on the basis of mutual respect 
• The strengthening of good governance for example, participatory democracy and the need for a new public procurement regime

The leaders also expressed their commitment to the principle of equality of all citizens regardless of race or religion, and in this regard expressed their concern that these issues are being used by the opposition to mislead and divide the population.

At a news conference Friday Persad-Bissessar told reporters, "It is very clear from the Partnership there has never ever been a Government that is so representative of the population of Trinidad and Tobago."

She also spoke about constitutional matters, noting that research has been completed on initiatives such as the right to recall a Member of Parliament and fixed dates for the general election. 

She added that on Thursday Cabinet agreed to send the research to the Attorney General's office so that personnel there can begin drafting the necessary legislation.

The leaders of the partnership are:

• Kamla Persad-Bissessar, United National Congress (UNC) 
• Prakash Ramadhar, Congress of the People (COP) 
• David Abdullah, Movement for Social Justice (MSJ) 
• Makandal Daaga, National Joint Action Committee (NJAC) 
• Ashworth Jack, Tobago Organisation of the People (TOP)