Camille Clarke

Ja­maat al Mus­limeen leader Yasin Abu Bakr says his sup­port for the PNM and the UNC has pro­duced kings.

He was speak­ing on Wednes­day night at the launch­ing of the New Na­tion­al Vi­sion (NNV) at First Street, San Juan. Be­fore and dur­ing the meet­ing, there were calls for San Juan res­i­dents to come for­ward to ad­dress any is­sues they have in the com­mu­ni­ty. Bakr likened his pres­ence to "cock­roach in fowl busi­ness." Re­fer­ring to UNC po­lit­i­cal leader Kam­la Per­sad-Bisses­sar, Bakr said a woman should not lead a par­ty. He said: "What is a woman do­ing lead­ing these men? Your wife is rul­ing you? In Trinidad that is a 'ma­comeh man' or in To­ba­go she gives you 'left-hand dumpling.' The Bible says a man is the head of the house."

Bakr said he sup­port­ed two par­ties dur­ing dif­fer­ent elec­tion cam­paigns.

He added: "I made the UNC (Unit­ed Na­tion­al Con­gress). We put them in the cor­ri­dors of pow­er. Noth­ing about me is part of cor­rup­tion." He said the late Bernadette James vis­it­ed him and told him she was be­ing threat­ened. James was killed in a po­lice mock an­ti-ter­ror­ist ex­er­cise in Tuck­er Val­ley, Ch­aguara­mas, in 1987. "She saw them with the co­caine in the VIP Lounge. I 'buss the mark' on them. I tes­ti­fied all and 'buss' it up in Mt Hope Hos­pi­tal," Bakr said.

He said the per­pe­tra­tors were now ad­vis­ers to men in high of­fice or were dead. Bakr had the crowd laugh­ing and agree­ing with his state­ments: "Vot­ing for the less­er of two evils;" "I put a snake in the bal­isi­er;" and "Daa­ga jump off the ship." He said in 1985 the crime rate had been re­duced be­cause the Ja­maat was on the streets. "They are wicked peo­ple. They can't sleep when they know I am awake. They bring­ing all kind of Scot­land Yard and even cloth yard, when all the time I was right here," he said. Re­fer­ring to the 1990 in­sur­rec­tion, Bakr claimed to be a pa­tri­ot who was will­ing to give his life for his coun­try.