KAY-MARIE FLETCH­ER

Se­nior Re­porter

kay-marie.fletch­er@guardian.co.tt

Op­po­si­tion Leader Pen­ne­lope Beck­les is de­fend­ing her cor­dial in­ter­ac­tion with Prime Min­is­ter Kam­la Per­sad-Bisses­sar af­ter the two were seen hold­ing hands at the cer­e­mo­ni­al open­ing of the 2026-2027 law term on Wednes­day.

The mo­ment sparked dis­cus­sion on­line, giv­en their po­lit­i­cal dif­fer­ences and the point­ed ex­changes that have char­ac­terised their ri­val­ry.

But speak­ing to Guardian Me­dia out­side Par­lia­ment yes­ter­day, Beck­les ques­tioned why po­lit­i­cal op­po­nents should not be cor­dial with each oth­er.

She said while she will con­tin­ue to ag­gres­sive­ly chal­lenge the Gov­ern­ment when nec­es­sary, po­lit­i­cal dif­fer­ences should not pre­vent lead­ers from treat­ing each oth­er with re­spect.

Beck­les said, “If the Prime Min­is­ter comes across and holds your hand and speaks to you, are you say­ing in Trinidad and To­ba­go we reached the stage where, what should I have done? I mean, should I re­ject it? What is it?… We may have dis­agree­ments. When I’m in the Par­lia­ment, I’m very pas­sion­ate about my pol­i­tics, about my con­stituen­cy. We have our dif­fer­ences, but at the end of the day, first and fore­most, we are hu­man be­ings.”

Beck­les said be­ing cor­dial with Per­sad-Bisses­sar should not be mis­tak­en for any soft­en­ing of her po­lit­i­cal stance.

She added, “I’m the Leader of the Op­po­si­tion. I’m the Prime Min­is­ter-in-wait­ing. She has been a for­mer op­po­si­tion leader. She’s now the Prime Min­is­ter, and if the Prime Min­is­ter comes across to me and we are hav­ing a de­cent con­ver­sa­tion, I will have a de­cent con­ver­sa­tion. If we’re in the Par­lia­ment and it’s time for me to take ac­tion, time for me to be ag­gres­sive and speak as I am en­ti­tled to speak as the Leader of the Op­po­si­tion, I will do so.”

Beck­les said po­lit­i­cal lead­ers al­so have a re­spon­si­bil­i­ty to con­sid­er the ex­am­ple they set for young peo­ple and the wider coun­try.

She added, “We live in a so­ci­ety now where our young peo­ple, our stu­dents, every­thing is a fight and a fight and every­body quar­relling. As the Op­po­si­tion Leader and the Prime Min­is­ter, we al­so have to de­cide what is the im­age we want to show for the young peo­ple and the peo­ple of Trinidad and To­ba­go… When it’s time for you to be­have ag­gres­sive­ly and do what you have to do, do it... We have to be bet­ter than that as a coun­try. That’s my view.”