An­ge­lo Je­didi­ah

an­ge­lo.je­didi­ah@guardian.co.tt

As the coun­try awaits a new Cab­i­net, set to be sworn in on Sat­ur­day, PEP leader Phillip Alexan­der says new­ly elect­ed Prime Min­is­ter Kam­la Per­sad-Bisses­sar will lead a peo­ple-first gov­ern­ment and set a new tone for lead­er­ship. 

Dur­ing an in­ter­view on CNC3’s The Morn­ing Brew on Fri­day, Alexan­der re­mained tight-lipped about po­ten­tial Cab­i­net ap­point­ments. But he said he does not ex­pect any di­vi­sion among the par­ties form­ing the UNC-led Coali­tion of In­ter­ests.

Alexan­der said it made sense for the PEP to join forces with the UNC, as they shared com­mon ide­olo­gies and com­pet­ing against each oth­er would have been coun­ter­pro­duc­tive.

“She [Per­sad-Bisses­sar] has repo­si­tioned the UNC to a more cen­trist par­ty. She's more pro­gres­sive. The poli­cies are all pro­gres­sive, or most­ly pro­gres­sive poli­cies that are peo­ple-cen­tred,” Alexan­der said.

Alexan­der said Mon­day’s elec­tion vic­to­ry marked the end of an “era of con­fronta­tion­al pol­i­tics” crit­i­cis­ing the for­mer PNM gov­ern­ment for what he de­scribed as Dr. Row­ley’s abu­sive and harsh style of lead­er­ship. This, he said, Per­sad-Bisses­sar will not al­low to con­tin­ue un­der her ad­min­is­tra­tion.

“It's not per­son­al…she doesn't want that in her gov­ern­ment. She doesn't want that in her life. She doesn't want that in her par­ty. She de­lib­er­ate­ly steered us away from that.”

He said Per­sad-Bisses­sar warned prospec­tive gov­ern­ment min­is­ters in a pri­vate meet­ing that poor gov­er­nance and weak lead­er­ship would not be tol­er­at­ed. 

“She said, ‘Many of you are go­ing to get ap­point­ed to gov­ern­ment posts. I want you to know that if you don't de­liv­er, or if you lose sight of the ground, we'll bring you back down,” he said. 

The PEP leader, known for his out­spo­ken and fiery pub­lic per­sona, said he too has mod­er­at­ed his tone, tak­ing ad­vice at times from Per­sad-Bisses­sar when this should be done. 

Alexan­der said cit­i­zens will be able to ‘un­clench their fists’ once the new gov­ern­ment is sworn in, giv­ing his as­sur­ance that the coun­try would im­prove un­der the coali­tion.

When asked whether he hoped for a par­tic­u­lar min­is­te­r­i­al port­fo­lio, Alexan­der shared that while he is skilled in sev­er­al ar­eas, he would leave the de­ci­sion to the Prime Min­is­ter.

“If I could help her bring about her vi­sion about T&T which so mir­rors my vi­sion. I am so hap­py to know that there is a po­lit­i­cal leader and a prime min­is­ter that wants these things for Trinidad. I'll help her get there.”