Ali­cia Llanos

Leader of the Op­po­si­tion Kam­la Per­sad-Bisses­sar is call­ing on Prime Min­is­ter Patrick Man­ning to re­con­sid­er his re­fusal to take part in a de­bate. Per­sad-Bisses­sar said yes­ter­day it was "most un­for­tu­nate" Man­ning re­fused to en­gage in a pre-elec­tion de­bate. Re­spond­ing to Man­ning say­ing he would have noth­ing to gain by tak­ing part in the de­bate, Per­sad-Bisses­sar said he should not be fo­cused on his gains but those of the na­tion­al com­mu­ni­ty.

She said the de­bate was an "ide­al op­por­tu­ni­ty to as­sist the pub­lic to make in­formed choic­es," in the May 24 gen­er­al elec­tion. Per­sad-Bisses­sar said a one-on-one de­bate would have pro­vid­ed the na­tion­al com­mu­ni­ty with a clear un­der­stand­ing as to where each par­ty stood on the is­sues. She hoped Man­ning would re­con­sid­er to let the peo­ple hear what their lead­ers had to say. Per­sad-Bisses­sar said all gains would be for the elec­torate and that should be the Prime Min­is­ter's pri­or­i­ty.

On Tues­day the Cham­ber of In­dus­try and Com­merce launched the T&T De­bates Com­mis­sion with plans to hold a tele­vised leader-to-leader de­bate on May 18. Dur­ing a walka­round in Tar­o­dale Heights, Co­coyea, on Tues­day, Man­ning re­spond­ed to ques­tions about the de­bate by say­ing he had no in­ten­tion of tak­ing part. Man­ning said: "It is un­like­ly that I will par­tic­i­pate in any such de­bate, very un­like­ly." He added the PNM pre­ferred com­mu­ni­ty walka­rounds to con­nect with the elec­torate and he had noth­ing to gain by go­ing in­to de­bate with Per­sad-Bisses­sar.