Third Force Movement chairman Timothy Hamel-Smith has questioned the integrity of Opposition PNM leader Keith Rowley.
He said so during TFM’s inaugural public meeting on Wednesday outside the Bottlestop compound, Boissiere, Maraval.
On Rowley’s recent criticism of the way Hamel-Smith handled Rowley’s call for a probe into the Section 34 issue when the latter was acting President, Hamel-Smith said he had made a public statement on matters relating to the issue and also wrote personal and confidential letters to the Prime Minister and the Opposition Leader.
However, he said while the PM honoured the protocol concerning confidential matters among the President, Opposition Leader Rowley didn’t honour that and thought he could do what he liked with confidential matters. “What kind of integrity is that?” Hamel-Smith asked. Saying the PNM is “running scared and the upcoming election was TFM’s to win,” Hamel-Smith said the PNM had targeted him after TFM was launched.
He said TFM was a threat to the PNM and the UNC and was likely to get the marginal seats, which was why the PNM was “running scared and all the major parties are afraid of TFM. “We expect the journey to be rough, the focus from what we see in the media is on mud-slinging, character assassination, bacchanal, lies, half truths and innuendo,” he said.
Hamel-Smith reiterated rebuttals he had made on Wednesday to T&T Guardian following criticism by PNM’s Marlene McDonald.
He said unless TFM stayed united, it could fall divided. He said TFM’s first meeting was “planting the seed in the Diego Martins.” He said the tribal bases were shrinking and the middle was the fastest growing base.
Hamel-Smith added the TFM had the potential to dramatically change T&T’s political and financial landscape with its foundational principles of implementation, regarding procurement legislation, introduction of party/campaign financing law within the first year of the next Parliament and law for a fair electoral system also early.
He also said TFM felt any party forming the next government must have unity and TFM remained open to working with all parties ready to work with it.
“Our foundational principles represent the minimum threshold for entry into dialogue,” he added. Hamel-Smith urged T&T to take the high road that “leads to life and light... let’s depart from the politics of division, negativity and character assassination.”
Alliance of Independents leader Nicole Dyer-Griffith said the TFM had ignited political upheaval and that demonstrated TFM would be a force with which to be reckoned. She said TFM would engage all parties on the “fundamentals” and its doors were open but, she added, talk was just that since the fundamentals were minimal and there were many more areas.
“This time we’re playing to win,” she added. On the Congress of the People (COP), she said: “The less said the better.” She said many people did not want to be “one thing of the other” politically and their voices had been stifled since 2010. She said while TFM was labelled “spoilers and rebels, “there was nothing wrong with problems like corruption, disunity, crime and political wrong-doing.”
She urged people to rebel against the political norms. “No organisation, party or leader can deny the non-aligned vote... your vote don’t belong to any of the main parties,” she added.
She said TFM was the alternative... “let’s change the game and raise the bar.”
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Pires: We willwelcome COP
While the Third Force Movement has noted negative comments by some COP officials, the TFM would welcome talks with the party, says Alliance of Independents chairman Joe Pires, a member of the Third Force Movement.
He said TFM was not there to split votes and “we will welcome the COP in the Third Force with open arms.
They need a little shaking up.” Pires, replying to critics who said some former PP members didn’t speak out on issues while they were in PP, said people did try to do so but sometimes words fell on deaf ears and “you have to leave.” He told critics of TFM: “Stop talking on Facebook and join us.”
He said TFM would not be bashing others but would focus on principles and the outfit was not aligned to the PNM or UNC and was lobbying citizens who were fed up with T&T’s politics.
Independent candidate Phillip Edward Alexander (Diego Martin West) said if the COP could not keep its members, it’s “nobody’s fault but yours.” He said if COP leader Prakash Ramadhar had gotten a “headache” due to TFM’s advent, “wait until we start bringing candidates.”
He said he was happy ILP’s Jack Warner had distanced himself from the TFM since “he saved us distancing ourselves from him.” NAR’s Arthur Sanderson said the NAR had a job to finish which was started in 1986. “We declare war on the PNM regarding T&T’s governance,” he said.