Kamla endorses Panday's appointment of PSA official as temporary Senator

Opposition leader Basdeo Panday on Friday appointed Christopher Joefield, Second Vice President of the Public Service Association (PSA) as a temporary Senator shortly after announced that he had revoked the appointment of Lyndira Oudit as a UNC Senator.

In a media statement Panday said he removed Oudit to make room for Joefield in keeping with his policy and practice to use his office as Opposition Leader "to create opportunities for participation in the democratic decision process of the voiceless who are being denied such opportunities by the Constitution and the electoral process."

Panday made the decision after a meeting with Watson Duke, President of the Public Services Association (PSA).

Earlier this week, the leader of the United National Congress (UNC), Kamla Persad-Bissessar and other UNC officials met with the PSA and was advised by Duke, to appoint Joefield to present the organization's case against the bill to establish the Trinidad and Tobago Revenue Agency

In a statement Friday Persad-Bissessar endorsed the move to appoint the PSA official, noting that it is in keeping with the UNC's "proud history of giving way to special interest groups who required the platform of the Senate to defend their rights."

She said, "In the context of the bill to be debated...the PSA needs that voice in the Senate in defence of the thousands of workers who will lose their jobs."

Persad-Bissessar added, "The UNC stands stoutly beside the PSA and pledges to do everything in its power to ensure the rights of the workers are upheld."

She also responded to Panday's move against Oudit, who was the only opposition Senator to support her during her campaign for the leadership of the UNC in the recent internal election.

Referring to the decision as "political meanderings and machinations" the UNC leader said Oudit "has served our party and country well and that her immediate revocation raises more questions than it provides answers."

She said while the Oudit dismissal is important, the party's focus must remain the plight of the PSA workers, "so let us not allow any politicking to create distractions to this singular purpose."

She added, "Those workers...are disinterested in any internal party politics and that's the way it should be. As a party we are at one with what must be done to ensure that not a single job is lost. That is our fight," she said.

"Any internal issues can and will be addressed at some other point in time," the UNC leader declared.