People's National Movement (PNM) candidate for Tobago West Shamfa Cudjoe has described the People’s Partnership government led by Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar as "out of touch,""out of reach,""irrelevant,""obsolete" and "expired."
She was delivering her maiden public speech at a cottage meeting at the Lambeau pavillion on Saturday night following a walkabout in the area.
Speaking to scores of supporters, Cudjoe said the People’s Partnership government spent five years in office with nothing to show for it and they should not be afforded another chance.
"For Trinidad and Tobago to grow, the UNC must go. For Trinidad and Tobago to grow, Kamla Persad-Bissessar must go. For Trinidad and Tobago to grow, Delmon Baker must go. For Trinidad and Tobago to grow, Vernella Alleyne-Toppin must go. And for Trinidad and Tobago to grow, the TOP must go. They have lost their compass, they have lost their anchor, drifting aimlessly with the UNC hands at the tiller," she said.
Cudjoe added that the newly formed political party Tobago Forwards, headed by interim political leader Christlyn Moore, is no option for the people of Tobago since they are a faction of the Tobago Organisation of the People (TOP) and agents of the Trinidad-based United National Congress (UNC). She said the change in political colours, name and constitution cannot fool Tobagonians.
"We know who you are and to who (sic) you belong—born, bred and bottle fed by the UNC. It is intriguing to hear the Tobago Forwards issuing a clarion call for all anti-PNM factions to join forces in an effort to defeat this great party, I said to myself the more things change the more they stay the same, because they are following in the footsteps of their UNC parent body which united forces based on only one thing—simple old hate for the PNM: no plan, no policy, no unity in purpose, just plain old hate for the PNM," Cudjoe said.
Cudjoe said that T&T needs a government with sober leadership with dignity, a moral compass and integrity.