Political analyst Dr Winsford James says the latest poll conducted by UWI/ANSA McAL clearly shows an increasing number of people wanting the Opposition to form the next government despite an increase in support for incumbent Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar to retain that post. James was commenting on the poll which was published in yesterday’s Sunday Guardian. He said the poll shows the general findings of previous samples.
In the poll Persad-Bissessar emerged as the preferred choice for Prime Minister garnering 34 per cent of the votes, while Rowley received 24 per cent. Some 25 per cent of the respondents were undecided. James noted, however, the latest poll gave the PNM a bigger lead, while it also showed more people favour Persad-Bissessar to lead the government than Dr Keith Rowley.
James said it was emerging as a popularity contest between the leaders. He said, however, “It is not the PM who wins elections but political parties and the PNM will win.” He said the poll showed that Persad-Bissessar was enjoying a level of popularity even though her “government was rotten to the core. She is trying to rehabilitate things, to turn the tide by the toughness of her decisions.”
Only last week Persad-Bissessar sacked Anand Ramlogan as attorney general, Gary Griffith as national security minister and Emmanuel George as justice minister. Ramlogan and Griffith were asked to resign over an allegation of witness tampering against Ramlogan by Police Complaints Authority director, David West.
James said while Persad-Bissessar was seen by the population as not being responsible for those developments, the former ministers were appointed by her. “It was her judgment in most cases,” he added. He said the poll showed she was a leader who was “surrounded by miscreants.” He insisted “in the end the PNM will benefit.” And former prime minister Basdeo Panday said a poll was simply a poll of what people were thinking at a particular time.
In a telephone interview yesterday, Panday said the PP Government had short-changed the population as it did not deliver value for money. He said Peoples Partnership made many promises but failed to deliver. He said it spent some $200 billion and there was “no value for money.” Panday admitted the Government did fix some drains but a tremendous cost to the treasury. He said it also stared some infrastructure projects.
Panday said he welcome a probe into alleged witness tampering involving former Ramlogan. He said the probe must me a meaningful one and there should be no cover up.He said if there was a cover up the entire exercise would be meaningless.