Op­po­si­tion Leader Kam­la Per­sad-Bisses­sar has de­clined the Pres­i­dent’s in­vi­ta­tion to at­tend the ap­point­ment of Stu­art Young as the new prime min­is­ter at the Pres­i­dent’s House to­day.

In­sist­ing that his ap­point­ment is un­con­sti­tu­tion­al, Per­sad-Bisses­sar, when ques­tioned by re­porters at Phag­wa cel­e­bra­tions in Pe­nal on whether she would be at­tend­ing to­day’s swear­ing-in, said, “No, I will not at­tend any­thing to give le­git­i­ma­cy to some­thing that I think is un­con­sti­tu­tion­al. I do not in­tend to go to that cer­e­mo­ny.” 

Per­sad-Bisses­sar had in­di­cat­ed at a Unit­ed Na­tion­al Con­gress meet­ing on March 10, that they were pre­pared to file le­gal ac­tion if Young is ap­point­ed while Row­ley re­mains the Peo­ple’s Na­tion­al Move­ment leader.

When asked about this, she said the UNC would have to wait to see un­der which sec­tion Pres­i­dent Chris­tine Kan­ga­loo has act­ed. “So, it would be pre­ma­ture at this time to make any state­ment.”

Per­sad-Bisses­sar said the op­po­si­tion was ex­pect­ing a new Cab­i­net as ac­cord­ing to the con­sti­tu­tion, when a new prime min­is­ter is sworn in, all min­is­ters demit of­fice, but she ex­pects that the same “old min­is­ters” would be reshuf­fled but in dif­fer­ent spaces.

As­sur­ing that if the elec­tion bell is rung the UNC was ready, she said they have screened all nom­i­nees and are in fi­nal talks with the Con­gress of the Peo­ple (COP).

“The UNC is very ready. We have screened all of our nom­i­nees is just a mat­ter of nam­ing them.”

While COP has agreed to join the UNC’s Coali­tion of In­ter­ests the UNC con­firmed that they have not had any talks with HOPE. Dis­miss­ing ru­mours that COP’s leader Prakash Ra­mad­har has been se­lect­ed as the can­di­date for St Au­gus­tine, Per­sad-Bisses­sar said they al­ready have a can­di­date for that seat. Whether Ra­mad­har would be se­lect­ed as a can­di­date in the gen­er­al elec­tion, she said that “is left to be seen. Dis­cus­sions are on­go­ing.’

Asked when she will be nam­ing the can­di­dates, she said they ex­pect to fi­nalise talks with the COP on Tues­day and then “its full steam ahead.”

‘San­dals an­oth­er

elec­tion gim­mick’

Asked to re­spond to Prime Min­is­ter Dr Kei­th Row­ley’s an­nounce­ment that he had asked the head of San­dals to come to T&T to dis­cuss a sec­ond at­tempt at build­ing a ho­tel in To­ba­go, Per­sad-Bisses­sar claimed that was just an “elec­tion gim­mick.”

“It’s all San­dals’ scan­dals all over again. It’s an­oth­er elec­tion gim­mick. This hap­pens for every elec­tion. Pri­or to every elec­tion, there’s a promise. First, it was sell­ing Petrotrin to the work­ers now it’s about bring­ing back San­dals, that will not hap­pen in my life­time un­der the PNM.”

Per­sad-Bisses­sar was ac­com­pa­nied by In­di­an High Com­mis­sion­er Dr Pradeep Ra­jpuro­hit dur­ing yes­ter­day’s Phag­wa’s cel­e­bra­tions at the Petrotrin ((Trin­toc) Recre­ation Grounds at Clarke Road in Pe­nal. 

Host­ed by the Pe­nal Debe Re­gion­al Cor­po­ra­tion, at­trac­tions in­clud­ed chow­tal singing, danc­ing and tas­sa.