Leaders proclaim People's Partnership alive and well

Kamla Persad-Bissessar has assured the country that the People's Partnership Government is strong and dismissed talk that its survival is under threat.

She made the comments following a special caucus at which she and the other leaders of the coalition pledged their commitment to the People's Partnership Government. And she was adamant that despite talk suggesting that all is not well, there is no fracturing either at the "top, middle or ground level of the Partnership".

She reiterated what she has stated before. "People as human beings have different opinions, different ambitions and they may want things to happen in a different way. If all the world were grey, it would be a very boring world indeed," she said.

Persad-Bissessar acknowledged that some people have expressed concerns that the People's Partnership has not been speaking to the people directly. She said the partnership will fix that return to the people to report on its achievements and to outline the way forward.

The Prime Minister insisted that member of the coalition are working together. "We have absolutely no problem with each other. There may be some persons outside of the room, which is quite normal, who have different anxieties, and different desires.

"But within this room ...the commitment is strong to the Partnership. We will endure. We will survive. But what we are doing now is to make sure we keep the mandate that was given, that we keep the connection with the electorate who gave us this mandate.

She said many people met coalition members over the holidays and said they are concerned "that they are not seeing us, that we are not speaking to them as directly as we used to. So we would go out into the constituencies, we would go out in the country and take our message directly to the people through the public meetings."

The leader of the Congress of the People (COP), said the different coalition partners are prepared to work together "as a cohesive force to solve the society's problems" while maintaining the separate identities from which they have emerged.

Winston Dookeran added, "I see absolutely no conflict whatsoever in maintaining the identities of the parties and pursuing the common objective of the new Government." He said his party is "completely committed, completely enthralled by this opportunity to build a new mandate and a new politics.

"We know that from time and time...there will be areas that we will have to address. But I say to all who are here, that the Prime Minister's ability to pull the threads together... has been remarkable," he said.
 
Ashworth Jack, who leads the Tobago Organisation of the People (TOP) said he and his coalition partners would not allow personal interest, ego or personal aspirations to get in the way of building a better Trinidad and Tobago.

Jack said the the coalition is still committed to ensuring good governance, and ensuring that the things people have been requiring of us are done. "We have heard their cry and their concerns", he said.

Errol McLeod noted that despite some :industrial relations hiccups" the government has done remarkably well. He said his Movement for Social Justice remains committed the People's Partnership Government and to good governance.

NJAC leader Makandal Daaga challenged anyone to so that the government has not performed. He said he has never sat with a group of people so determined to change Trinidad and Tobago from the state of corruption it was in, to one that was a greatly enhanced environment.