An­na-Lisa Paul

Se­nior Re­porter

an­na-lisa.paul@guardian.co.tt

Op­po­si­tion Leader Kam­la Per­sad Bisses­sar has again warned the elec­torate not to be dis­tract­ed by the “gim­micks” be­ing thrown out by the Peo­ple’s Na­tion­al Move­ment to shift fo­cus from the re­al is­sues af­fect­ing the coun­try.

Speak­ing at the fi­nal Unit­ed Na­tion­al Con­gress (UNC) Pre-Bud­get Con­sul­ta­tion in Siparia on Wednes­day, she said the hype sur­round­ing pro­posed changes to the Coat of Arms was a ploy to keep cit­i­zens from fo­cus­ing on ris­ing crime, poor health­care, lack of ed­u­ca­tion­al op­por­tu­ni­ties, in­creased un­em­ploy­ment and high food prices.

“I call on the coun­try to get back to the re­al is­sues, do not get dis­tract­ed,” she urged.

“Don’t go down that rab­bit hole of eth­nic di­vi­sion.”

Com­ment­ing on Tues­day’s dou­ble mur­der in Moru­ga, in which En­ri­co Guer­ra, 35, and his five-year-old daugh­ter, Ani­ka, were killed, Per­sad Bisses­sar said: “A moth­er’s lap is a very dan­ger­ous place to be right now.”

Ani­ka was sit­ting on her moth­er’s lap when the shoot­ing be­gan.

The Op­po­si­tion Leader al­so claimed that the Con­sti­tu­tion re­form ex­er­cise might be used by the rul­ing par­ty to post­pone the gen­er­al elec­tion.

“PNM don’t like elec­tions,” she said

Per­sad-Bisses­sar re­newed the UNC’s call for the PNM to make their sug­ges­tions for pro­por­tion­al rep­re­sen­ta­tion, a two-term lim­it and a fixed date for elec­tions a re­al­i­ty.

UNC deputy leader Jear­lean John al­so reaf­firmed the par­ty’s com­mit­ment to equal­i­ty, as she said all cit­i­zens had a right to own their own homes and the well-be­ing of their fam­i­lies. She said the elec­torate had to get rid of the PNM for them to move for­ward.