Akash Sama­roo

Se­nior Re­porter

akash.sama­roo@cnc3.co.tt

Prime Min­is­ter Kam­la Per­sad-Bisses­sar is again un­der­scor­ing that she is in good health.

Speak­ing at yes­ter­day’s post-Cab­i­net news brief­ing at the Red House, Port-of-Spain, Per­sad-Bisses­sar de­clared, “Nev­er fear, Kam­la is here.”

Per­sad-Bisses­sar’s com­ment came in the wake of a ques­tion raised by Peo­ple’s Na­tion­al Move­ment’s chair Dr Nyan Gads­by-Dol­ly about the health and fit­ness of Per­sad-Bisses­sar, due to her ab­sence from the pub­lic’s eye ear­li­er this week.

Seem­ing­ly re­spond­ing to this yes­ter­day, the Prime Min­is­ter said, “I want to thank so many of you who have reached out ex­press­ing con­cerns about my health. I think some peo­ple are just miss­ing see­ing me, so when you don’t see me for a day, you think I’ve lost 10 toes. I have all ten toes and all ten fin­gers.”

In 2023, a so­cial me­dia page which heav­i­ly crit­i­cis­es Per­sad-Bisses­sar had claimed she suf­fered a stroke and three of her toes were am­pu­tat­ed. How­ev­er, the then-op­po­si­tion leader re­spond­ed with a pic­ture of her wear­ing a pair of slip­pers with all 10 toes on dis­play.

At yes­ter­day’s me­dia brief­ing, the now PM said, “I am in good health, and I thank God for that.”

As her Cab­i­net mem­bers stand­ing be­hind her ap­plaud­ed, Per­sad-Bisses­sar de­clared, “Do not be trou­bled, let not your heart be trou­bled. You elect­ed me and the team to help res­cue and re­build the coun­try. We will do every­thing that we can to ho­n­our those com­mit­ments. Again, health, nev­er fear Kam­la is here. Nev­er fear.”

This is the sec­ond time in weeks that Per­sad-Bisses­sar has had to de­fend the sta­tus of her health.

At the UNC’s fi­nal ral­ly in Aranguez, San Juan, be­fore the Gen­er­al Elec­tion, Per­sad-Bisses­sar said, “Yes, I ac­cept that my body ap­pears old now; it looks small and frail. But in­side this body is the mind and heart of a moth­er that is filled with love. A moth­er to all of you.”

She added, “My body has aged from the years of bat­ter­ing, bruis­ing, hu­mil­i­a­tion, ridicule, abuse and in­sults. I have been called the worst thing any­one can be called. I have been called jam­mette, drunk, dog and every nasty word in be­tween.”

She ref­er­enced her “frailty” again on the oc­ca­sion of her swear­ing-in last week. While read­ing the ri­ot act to her new­ly sworn-in Cab­i­net mem­bers on Sat­ur­day, Per­sad-Bisses­sar said, “If you treat the cit­i­zens with cal­lous­ness, con­tempt, and cor­rupt ways, I guar­an­tee you ret­ri­bu­tion will be swift and bru­tal. Nev­er mis­take my phys­i­cal ap­pear­ance or my kind­ness for weak­ness. There is noth­ing more dan­ger­ous than a moth­er who be­lieves her chil­dren are in dan­ger. Every­one would be wise to re­mem­ber that for the next five years.”

In the lead-up to the April 28 Gen­er­al Elec­tion, for­mer PM Stu­art Young had cam­paigned on be­ing a “phys­i­cal­ly fit” choice for prime min­is­ter, al­lud­ing to con­cerns about Per­sad-Bisses­sar’s abil­i­ty to cope with the de­mands of the of­fice.