Kim­ber­ly Mack­han

May 24 would be lib­er­a­tion day for the peo­ple of Trinidad and To­ba­go, Unit­ed Na­tion­al Con­gress (UNC) po­lit­i­cal leader Kam­la Per­sad-Bisses­sar has said. She added that the 2010 gen­er­al elec­tion on May 24 would bring to the lo­cal pop­u­la­tion free­dom from Patrick Man­ning and his rul­ing Peo­ple's Na­tion­al Move­ment (PNM). "At last, at last, free­dom day at last...May 24 will be lib­er­a­tion day for all of the peo­ple of Trinidad and To­ba­go," Per­sad-Bisses­sar said yes­ter­day af­ter­noon.

She added: "The bot­tom line is this: We will win. We will win. We have done what needs to be done and we are go­ing to do what needs to be done. "We have no op­tion but to make sure we re­move the present ad­min­is­tra­tion." Per­sad-Bisses­sar was speak­ing to mem­bers of the me­dia at the Rien­zi Com­plex, Cou­va, around noon, be­fore at­tend­ing a meet­ing with Con­gress of the Peo­ple (COP) po­lit­i­cal leader Win­ston Dook­er­an. She felt great to be a prime min­is­te­r­i­al can­di­date in the gen­er­al elec­tion. She added it had been a hum­bling ex­pe­ri­ence to be the first women who could as­sume the of­fice of Prime Min­is­ter in Trinidad and To­ba­go.

"I feel up to the chal­lenge. I think the coun­try wants change and I can bring change. The time is now. "The coun­try needs that change and we are best poised with our team to take the coun­try for­ward," Per­sad-Bisses­sar. She was con­fi­dent the elec­torate would vote out Man­ning. She said: "The polls are telling us that peo­ple are ready to move away from the Man­ning ad­min­is­tra­tion and to get good gov­er­nance. "At this time, the polling is show­ing us that the UNC is well poised to present the al­ter­na­tive gov­ern­ment for Trinidad and To­ba­go.

"Our feel­ing res­onates with the peo­ple of Trinidad and To­ba­go. Be­cause of that we will win. It will be the will of the peo­ple. That is what is go­ing to be the de­cid­ing fac­tor." She added that the UNC was speed­ing up its pro­grammes on the ground. "Elec­tions are won by the peo­ple on the ground. We have start­ed that process and we shall con­tin­ue it," Per­sad-Bisses­sar added.