Unless patriotic independent candidates contest the September 7 general election and are elected to Parliament, T&T is in for a bloody revolution in the next five years.
That was the prediction of former police corporal Wilfred Edwards when he launched his campaign yesterday at the Guapo Community Centre to contest the La Brea constituency as an independent candidate.
Edwards, 59, now an industrial labour relations consultant, said long gone were the days of racial harmony in T&T, adding that with so many guns in criminals’ hands, crime will continue to elevate once there was a People’s National Movement (PNM) or People’s Partnership government.
“Because of the dirty waters created by the PNM and the UNC/partnership, I am calling on citizens who are civic-minded and patriotic to come forward and offer themselves to change T&T. If we don’t get change by way of the ballot, we will get it by a revolution.
“I am not prophesying here but I am seeing the signs and trends. I don’t want to sound militant or radical but I am speaking the truth and if we don’t get it by the ballot, by the next five years Trinidad will see a bloody revolution,” Edwards said.
Saying that incumbent MP Fitzgerald Jeffrey has been ineffective, he said his main tasks would be to combat the level of unemployment among constituents through training programmes and to seek relief for victims of the December 2013 oil spill in the Gulf of Paria.
“It shows the ineffectiveness of the MP in terms of getting a resolution for that oil spill.
“It is still lingering and having harmful effects on the people,” he said. He said that there also needed to be an engineering solution for the sinking roads in La Brea.
He said he also supported the construction of the dimethyl ether plant at the Union Industrial Estate and the Solomon Hochoy Highway extension to Point Fortin.
As for his candidacy, he said several groups in La Brea approached him earlier this year to contest the seat.
After discussing it with his family, he said he decided to accede to the people’s request.
He said the approach by constituents showed they wanted to take responsibility for their constituency.
He added: “No other MP has served La Brea and the interest of La Brea. In fact, they have pulled down La Brea. The history of representation in La Brea has been so poor and the people have now recognised this.
“Our two traditional parties have taken us to a point where we have descended in a pit of no return. The traditional PNM is corrupt and they only see about their vested and special interests within the party.
“They have made good policies and have not implemented any. Their performance is very poor in La Brea and the nation in general. The People’s Partnership/UNC is even more corrupt. They are the most corrupt if we compare the two.”
According to Edward’s curriculum vitae, he has a Bachelors Degree in labour studies and is currently pursuing a MBA in Human Resource Management from the Anglia Ruskin University in England through the School of Accounting and Management.