Victorious UNC Local Government candidate Vanessa Kussie says her win at the polls was a conquest for the people, especially the poor, downtrodden and depressed.
Kussie, 48, a newcomer to electoral politics, took home the Couva West/Roystonia seat on the Couva/Tabaquite/Talparo Regional Corporation (CTTRC). This seat is one of two the new seats created by the Elections and Boundaries Commission for this year’s LGE, the other being the Mayaro North seat on the Mayaro/Rio Claro Regional Corporation.
The area was deemed a PNM stronghold.
Kussie got 1,720 votes compared to 1,649 votes for the People's National Movement’s Lynise Burnett-Packette
Kussie, 48, is the wife of deceased diver Rishi Nagessar. Nagessar was part of a five-member team who went missing while working on a 30-inch underwater crude oil pipeline at Heritage's Petroleum's facility in Pointe-a-Pierre on February 25, 2022.
Diver Christopher Boodram was rescued shortly after the incident on February 25, 2022. However, the bodies of Fyzal Kurban, Kazim Ali Jr and Yusuf Henry were recovered on February 28, 2022, and Nagessar's body was found early on March 3, 2022.
Yesterday, Kussie said she entered electoral politics after being encouraged by a close friend of hers connected to the UNC. The friend, she said, felt she (Kussie) could be a voice for the people.
She said, “When my husband died I had no income, I became a widow and a single parent. I had to live on the charity of my friends and family. I didn't receive any assistance from any of the companies (involved in the pipeline tragedy)… I know what it is to live like and suffer.
"My son Nashaaik is four years old and he sits on a chair and waits for his father, you can see the sadness in his eyes. There are many people in this country who go through the pain of losing someone, the challenges of being a single parent, many without food. My battle is for them, to be a voice for them.”
Kussie said the road was long and hard. She said when she started campaigning, she was greeted by people who were angry and bitter because their communities were being left in shambles.
"The people are angry. I had to listen to them and ask them to give me a chance. People wanted their roads fixed, the drains, and in parts of Roystonia, the people have been begging for streetlights for the past three months, some of the roads are riddled with potholes<" Kussie said.
"The people blame everyone. The CTTRC was starved for resources, so they couldn’t deliver. The Government started paving major roads before elections but left out the back roads where the voters live.”
Kussie said she plans to get the ball rolling and is putting several things in place to set up community watch groups in her community. She said a watch group would also allow for better interaction with burgesses.
“Roystonia consists of working people, who may not be home all the time, and we want to work together as a community to keep an eye on each other. Crime is on the rise and people have no way to protect themselves, so we have to be in the lookout,” she said.
Kussie said the campaign was a tough one and she managed to get many young people to vote for her.
“The PNM diehards voted for the PNM because they are contented with the crime and bad roads. They suffer for a political party that does not deliver any goods for them.”
Kussie said she has the support of her community of Perseverance Village, which is also within the electoral district.
“I spent a lot of time listening to the people. All they want are simple services, and I think I would be able to deliver most of it, but the way the infrastructure was neglected, it may take some time to deliver.
"Many people didn’t know this was a new seat and we did a lot of walking. I saw people waiting to vent and I didn’t walk away, I let them vent and listen to their problem.”
Kussie said her husband would have cried tears of joy if he was alive.
“My husband was not a man to cry, if he was here, he would have cried tears of joy.”
