Obviously there are some people in South T&T who don't want Prime Minister Patrick Manning to go anywhere but back to the Government, based in North Trinidad. Manning was very much in the appropriate place – his one-time hometown of Gopaul Lands, Marabella – on Thursday night to accede to the Opposition grouping's dearest wish.
For Patrick to "Just go nah..."
Permanently. (On Thursday, Manning, back in his former neighbourhood was actually standing just over five blocks away from where he used to live in 1995).
Thousands of PNMites, who stood in the rain to hear him that night, however, had plans regarding a completely different location for him. "Manning Going Back!" blared a multitude of voices replying. It was Pointe-a-Pierre (P-a-P), a marginal seat and the same spot near Hi-Lo where the UNC had launched its campaign with a large showing last month. On Thursday night, 10 days before election, the ruling PNM gave a sampling of its P-a-P position, which the Opposition is aiming to crack with MSJ's Errol McLeod. Good luck with that, PNMites would probably tell McLeod after Thursday night. Or as PNM PAP candidate Christine Kangaloo saw it from the platform when she spoke: "Kamla and Errol counting egg in fowl anatomy."
But true to laid-back southern style, the gig had started slowly. At 7 pm, chairman for the evening, Ralph Maraj, was surveying some free space along with a group at the front of the stage and others along the borders. Twenty five minutes later, Maraj was breathing easier. They came in big Red numbers. Steady, streaming, led by DJ trucks. Parading jump-up style, along Southern Main Road, flags on high and spirits to match. At peak, the car park overflowed onto Gopaul Lands road with people roving around and watching from the PNM constituency office nearby.
Dominating attendance in the thick crowd was Kangaloo's P-a-P supporters, Manning's huge San Fernando East back-up, San Fernando West MP Junia Regrello's contingent and others from Tabaquite and surrounding constituencies. And yes - some jerseys also advertised Laventille East, San Juan and P-o-S South. Numbers notwithstanding, MC Maraj began the meeting with the same message PNM has drummed into the troops since the campaign began: All hands on deck.. "I'm convinced we're ahead in this race... every soldier to the battlefront! Be prepared to go into the trenches, walk the streets!" Maharaj emphasised. "We going!" shouted a group which had arrived the earliest. San Fernando West candidate Regrello complained about a run-in at a radio station with his COP counterpart.
Kangaloo put the unity credentials of the Opposition through the PNM shredder. Martin Joseph, the only non-southerner among the speakers, dealt with the challenge of crime facing the Government in election. "This is a party that does not over-promise to win," Joseph plugged. The crowd, which Manning pegged at peak as 6,000 didn't hustle off when rain descended. Castigating the UNC leader's recent manifesto-ripping form, Manning said: "I understand on Monday night when she was talking., she had a little assistance – me nah say no more about dat...sweating profusely. It betrays something else - but I not talking. "It says to me the strain of the campaign is beginning to tell on my charming lady friend," he added.
Manning also said: "My lady friend from Siparia, what does she know about people in Port-of-Spain... she don't know them, It's a different culture there... what does she know about people in Diego Martin or Sangre Grande... she's living in the confines of her own space." Apparently accustomed to the "Father of the Nation" jokes flung his way since 1995, the large number of youths present prompted Manning to share a slew of fatherly advice.
The night's Manning motto included:
�2 If you can't be a responsible father, keep your zipper up.
�2 Macho it's not, to have kids all over the place.
�2 Love your chile mother.
�2 Men: pull yourselves up.
�2 ...Women want proper husbands.
�2 They don't want "chongoes."
�2 Lay off the chicken and chips.
"How ah talking... I don't want to overdo it," Manning paused in pulpit mode. PNM won the seat in 2007 with Kangaloo's 7,505 votes. UNC's Wade Mark received 6,189 and COP's Carolyn Seepersad-Bachan, 3,664. As for who is "going" – back, forth or wherever – the events of the next 10 days would determine. In any event, Marabella stopped being Manning's home after he relocated to Vista Bella.
–See Public Affairs