The 2020 General Election Thread (AUGUST 10TH)

[bluefete]

This my last post in here

Yuh cyar do we dat boy. Yuh have questions to answer.

With you gone and rspann missing in action, who we go get answers from?

[bluefete]

Fools quoting Jamaica now where election and political violence and class inequality has been second to none in the Caribbean .

Ignorance is a deadly weapon..

Some allyuh now drop from a breadfruit tree awah?

If that fall in my garden, I was talking about the ad and Ms. Hanna (Miss World 1993). Nothing else. I very well know the history of Jamaican elections going back to Independence but especially during the Edward Seaga era.

[Trinispougla]

Fools quoting Jamaica now where election and political violence and class inequality has been second to none in the Caribbean .

Ignorance is a deadly weapon..

Some allyuh now drop from a breadfruit tree awah?

If that fall in my garden, I was talking about the ad and Ms. Hanna (Miss World 1993). Nothing else. I very well know the history of Jamaican elections going back to Independence but especially during the Edward Seaga era.

There is definite truth to that. But the class inequality in Jamaica is unrecognizable to Trinidadians. Jamaica doesen't have any free services other than free secondary TUITION. You have to pay for the exams. I know this because aunt was a teacher there for over 35 years and she's married to a chemical engineer. When there were the salary relief grants in TTO, my mom asked what the government was doing there for those who had lost there jobs, her response being nothing. Prior to the Nixon shock of 1971(where a country's economy became more reliant on foreign exchange to defend its own currency) and the crash of bauxite prices in 1976, Jamaica was the Caribbean's richest country. But there was no free education' no free healthcare and huge wedges in Jamaican society. Compare that with Trinidad. The black power revolution of 1970 caused quite a large number of white Trinidadians to leave for places like Canada. Which is why housing in the 1970s was very cheap. My grandfather could have afforded a house in Morn CoCo road next to St Anthony's. He just chose not to live there. He still bought a house in an area that most people TODAY cannot afford to live in because the prices were cheap. Also, the price of land in the 80s during the IMF days was also very cheap. If you look at deeds and properties, you would see a lot of properties that were bought in tge late 80s. To buy a house in Jamaica, you have to be very, very rich. What we call rich in TTO and what jamaicans call rich are two seperate things. In TTO, my relatives in Jamaica would be considered people with some dollars. In Jamaica, they are considered middle class because there is no tangible middle class communities in Jamaica. No communities like Arouca, Palmiste, Diamond Vale etc. You have communities like Goodwood Park and communities like Laventille, nothing in between.

Jamaica's political violence is however, their fault. They decided, like Guyana and Grenada, to go head first into the Cold War. The PNP was alligned with the eastern bloc and the JLP was alligned with the western bloc. The accompanying consequences were obvious. Seaga was the first person who brought what became Jamaica's brand of political gangster contact to the country. His seat, West Kingston, was considered a marginal until he arrived. The previous two Jamaican incumbent mps had both lost their seats there, one being the PM Hugh Shearer. But Seaga understood that West Kingston was and remains the poorest community in Jamaica( includes Tiverly) and used the gangsters to influence the way people voted. Patrimony would then be directed down the train. It reached a head in the 1970s because of Manley's emerging left leaning policies including cultivating an open relationship with Cuba. And the most desperate people in the society are the most easily manipulated and it only takes one person to decide that that is the route he is going and then you have a situation like Jamaica. Which is why i always say that TTO citizens need to read. Before they say the absolute worst things about Dr Eric Williams, they need to be bloody grateful he kept us out of that bacchanal. Leaders with much less guile and foresight like Cheddi Jaggan, Michael Manley, Seaga and Bishop to a lesser extent jumped head first into the Cold War and were consumed because they were dealing with an international situation that was much bigger than the confines of their territories, some which were quite small

[VII]

Nah I wasnt on you..

Perspective pal...

Fools quoting Jamaica now where election and political violence and class inequality has been second to none in the Caribbean .

Ignorance is a deadly weapon..

Some allyuh now drop from a breadfruit tree awah?

If that fall in my garden, I was talking about the ad and Ms. Hanna (Miss World 1993). Nothing else. I very well know the history of Jamaican elections going back to Independence but especially during the Edward Seaga era.

[matr1x]

Hilarious that the normally racist pnm trying to virtue signal

[The_Honourable]

Dr. Fuad Khan Says Losers Always Blame the Referee for their Loss

[eliteauto]

[shake d livin wake d dead]

Please make that viral^

[bluefete]

^^^ Totally agree.

[VII]

She lost 10 or 11 times I think.

Boy aunty Kamla is de wuss yes..

[Gem_in_i]

They removed her as leader ?

[MaxPower]

Dr. Fuad Khan Says Losers Always Blame the Referee for their Loss

Ah yes.

His Grace Dr.Fuad Khan

A man thats brings out the truth and reality.

A perfect candidate for a leader.

[Kewell35]

Fuad Khan speaking more sense than some of the clowns on here.

[VII]

Wait nah you wasnt supporting Kamla last week and we fall out and all kina ting ?

And that Dopieshyte guy too..

Like zoom is de last man standing!

Fuad Khan speaking more sense than some of the clowns on here.

[Lou Screuz]

Rowlie say he inherited

a ferry debacle

and had to deal with it


and the crowd nod and clap



get ready

for 5 more years

of cacaholery

[bluefete]

I wonder if Zoom went to that alleged UNC Executive meeting this evening. That would account for why he is so quiet.

Unconfirmed sources say that Moonilal and pals pull a palace coup saying that Kams disappear since the elections. They want her removed as Leader of the Opposition and the UNC.

UNC internal elections are due in 2021.

UNC looking like PNM of 2010.

I don't believe it because I cannot confirm the PNM source that put it out.

[Kewell35]

Wait nah you wasnt supporting Kamla last week and we fall out and all kina ting ?

And that Dopieshyte guy too..

Like zoom is de last man standing!

Fuad Khan speaking more sense than some of the clowns on here.

No hoss. I always say what Fuad said. I did say UNC should have replaced Kamla before the elections.

[Kewell35]

I wonder if Zoom went to that alleged UNC Executive meeting this evening. That would account for why he is so quiet.

Unconfirmed sources say that Moonilal and pals pull a palace coup saying that Kams disappear since the elections. They want her removed as Leader of the Opposition and the UNC.

UNC internal elections are due in 2021.

UNC looking like PNM of 2010.

I don't believe it because I cannot confirm the PNM source that put it out.

It looks like most people in the party still supporting Kamla to be leader though. I really not sure if anyone else could win the internal elections next year.

[bluefete]

I wonder if Zoom went to that alleged UNC Executive meeting this evening. That would account for why he is so quiet.

Unconfirmed sources say that Moonilal and pals pull a palace coup saying that Kams disappear since the elections. They want her removed as Leader of the Opposition and the UNC.

UNC internal elections are due in 2021.

UNC looking like PNM of 2010.

I don't believe it because I cannot confirm the PNM source that put it out.

It looks like most people in the party still supporting Kamla to be leader though. I really not sure if anyone else could win the internal elections next year.

Same thing I am thinking.

But Moonila and Suruj will make real run for it though. Them men tusty for power and money.

[bluefete]

I now hear real executive members walked out of the UNC meeting this afternoon - leaving her with no quorum.

[eliteauto]

I wonder if Zoom went to that alleged UNC Executive meeting this evening. That would account for why he is so quiet.

Unconfirmed sources say that Moonilal and pals pull a palace coup saying that Kams disappear since the elections. They want her removed as Leader of the Opposition and the UNC.

UNC internal elections are due in 2021.

UNC looking like PNM of 2010.

I don't believe it because I cannot confirm the PNM source that put it out.

It looks like most people in the party still supporting Kamla to be leader though. I really not sure if anyone else could win the internal elections next year.

Kams has support , the legal team suggested she bow out at the internal elections next year, simply resign and not be part of any slate. However there are 3 groups among the 18 MPs, some loyal to the Lion, some to Tanty and some undecided and looking to the future ( theirs), the Lion looking to bag a few and make a play for opposition leader which can be separate from the political leader. A keen eye would have seen that Lion was not actively campaigning with the whole team but with some older stalwarts in the party , a keener eye would know that certain anti-UNC social media pages were in fact run by UNC activists intent on removing the PL had they lost ( if they won the pages would have died and "blame PNM" would have happened, kinda like some usernames here) those same activists along with some former MPs are all putting pressure on Tanty to resign right now.

Of course that is all rum shop talk cause I issa big PNM according to ZR and De Dragon

[bluefete]

Anybody have some Alcolado Glacial or Citrologne for Zoom?

His head will need real sapping when or if he comes back.

[bluefete]

All dem man rat Kams have to deal with. Tough. If she had stood up to them 2010-2015, she would not be in this position today.

[Redress10]

I wonder if Zoom went to that alleged UNC Executive meeting this evening. That would account for why he is so quiet.

Unconfirmed sources say that Moonilal and pals pull a palace coup saying that Kams disappear since the elections. They want her removed as Leader of the Opposition and the UNC.

UNC internal elections are due in 2021.

UNC looking like PNM of 2010.

I don't believe it because I cannot confirm the PNM source that put it out.

It looks like most people in the party still supporting Kamla to be leader though. I really not sure if anyone else could win the internal elections next year.

Kams has support , the legal team suggested she bow out at the internal elections next year, simply resign and not be part of any slate. However there are 3 groups among the 18 MPs, some loyal to the Lion, some to Tanty and some undecided and looking to the future ( theirs), the Lion looking to bag a few and make a play for opposition leader which can be separate from the political leader. A keen eye would have seen that Lion was not actively campaigning with the whole team but with some older stalwarts in the party , a keener eye would know that certain anti-UNC social media pages were in fact run by UNC activists intent on removing the PL had they lost ( if they won the pages would have died and "blame PNM" would have happened, kinda like some usernames here) those same activists along with some former MPs are all putting pressure on Tanty to resign right now.

Of course that is all rum shop talk cause I issa big PNM according to ZR and De Dragon

Yeah all them pages run by UNC to try and sink Tanty.

Plenty ppl sell out UNC and campaign for PNM on the ground as well. Information was also given to the PNM abt what the PP did in office from 2010 to 2015.

That's why the mark buss with Barry and tanty credit card payments only a week or so before elections.

Alluh eh even have a clue how deep that rabbit hole running in the UNC nah. The lion eh even pretending to be shame.

[jhonnieblue]

Why Kamla lost, loses and will continue to lose

11 HRS AGO[https://newsday]UNC leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar addresses the media at her constituency office in Siparia on Monday night after the general election. - Marvin Hamilton
KEVIN JARED HOSEIN
I live in the marginal constituency of Chaguanas East. I am on the boundary between Enterprise and Cunupia, such that they could be interchanged and the package would still reach my house. I's Chaguanas till ah dead.
I myself am a swing voter and thus, the person you need to be appeal to if you campaign here.

The ketchup and mustard presented at the table were, respectively, Clarence Rambharat (PNM) and Vandana Mohit (UNC). It took me a while before I could actually decide who would get my vote, as I thought both candidates would've been great MPs.
Clarence, in my opinion, had a very aggressive campaign. An uphill battle. Mainly because he was going up against the mayor and a very popular former councillor. Billboards to rival Pastor Cuffie's daughters. Youtube ads like mad. But I watched all of them at least once.
[https://newsday]PNM Chaguanas East candidate Clarence Rambharat -
Most outlined a focused plan to help legitimise small businesses, kiosks, eateries around the Enterprise and Montrose areas – respectable, plausible and doable within a realistic timeframe.
However, one video stood out for me in particular: him listing five facts about himself, including his attempts at extempo, that he hasn't driven a vehicle since 2007, and that he sometimes confuses left and right.
I initially found this strange, but it stayed in my mind. Only strange because it was unfamiliar. Would Fitzgerald Hinds ever put out a video saying he couldn't tell left from right? What about Moonilal? Jennifer Baptiste-Primus? Anthony Garcia? How about Gypsy?
Coming back to this later.

Vandana dedicated a share of her personal campaign on online platforms. I only use Facebook, so that’s what I saw.
I’m a secondary school teacher. Some of the children I teach say they look up to Vandana. “I woulda vote for she if I coulda vote!”
[https://newsday]Chaguanas East MP-elect Vandana Mohit. Source: Vandana Mohit Facebook page. -
To me, this is major, especially after the shaming and kankalang that happened to her last year that made even Al-Rawi explode. At Bocas Lit Fest, I heard an agent who predominantly represents young adult and children’s literature once say that zoomers are the scariest people in the world when they band together.
Vandana popped up on my timeline almost every day I was online. Mostly early-morning videos, pre-makeup, sleepy, eyes sunken and dark-ringed in some, sharing photos of herself back in her school days, talking about food, casually streaming with followers, answering questions, chatting about growing up in Chaguanas. In the end, she carved out a persona as the "Chaguanas homegirl" and used it as her hashtag.
I found all of this endearing. And so did others. And I began thinking back to Clarence's video.
From a literary perspective, if you want to have the reader empathise with a character, the reader must see themselves in that character. If that character gets insulted, they must feel so as well.

The reader is never a perfect person, a paragon of anything. The reader is a flawed individual who wants to overcome a struggle, accomplish something, and do better in life. And a lot of the time, cannot figure out how.
Clarence's idiosyncrasies, as briefly as he related them, made him distinctly human in that video. That's why I could remember it so clearly and not, say, the plot of any of the Transformers movies.
Similarly, Vandana dedicated posts and videos talking about things that were not overtly politics or rhetoric. Might not seem like much, but remember this is not just some gyal live streaming – this is the Mayor of Chaguanas.
These two candidates sought to humanise themselves and were very good at it. Something that Kamla (and a lot of the older stalwarts on both sides) has failed to do.
For many of today's youth, a lot of their opinion banks more on empathy than on apotheosis. They want you to talk to them, not at them. I tell my students embarrassing tales about my teen years all the time, lest they forget that I too was once a stressed-out student.
All these stalwarts were once regular citizens, right? They didn't fall from the sky, did they?
You barely hear a word out of Kamla's mouth now that does not serve self-interest. Even her gaffes in her campaign do not seem to be fully hers, but the machinations of something else. She is not even someone brave enough to make her own mistakes. So how can she possibly own them and grow from it? She has never given herself this opportunity.

It is very difficult to empathise with someone who has not humbled themselves. There is nothing more humanising and humbling than owning up to your flaws. Nothing better for your narrative.
Imagine Kamla as the main character of a story. Who is she? What does she want? Now try to describe the personality she presents to you. Now try to do it without using adjectives.
Take in this: The UNC MVP of 2020 was not Kamla, its leader, but a young, passionate councillor and science graduate named Michelle Benjamin of Moruga.
I am definitely not a fan of those he keeps around him, but Keith Rowley, on the other hand, has actually had somewhat of a character arc over his tenure. When he gets annoyed or visibly angry and outta timing, at least you know that is him. And you can look back at the "Rowley tea party" and “Mr Speaker, I see acrimony” days and compare and see how he has tempered himself. He is, of course, imperfect.
Panday and Manning oozed personality, down to their last days. There's a particular exchange that I love between them:
Panday: "I would risk having another meeting with you, you know!"
Manning, with arms outstretched: "It would be my extreme pleasure!"

And in the background, you could hear both sides of the Lower House laughing. Their downfall was not a fault in their stars, but in themselves. Panday spewing venom at his own supporters while donning a red beret, telling them how they should look in the mirror and "hold allyuh head and bawl!" whenever they are raped or gunned down. Manning huffing and puffing, pulling a Birdman, driving down to a radio station because somebody was bad-talking him.
They became tragic heroes in the great Trinidadian tapestry. Their time was up. Elephants to the graveyard.
Fling Kamla in there now. Once brimming with verve, class, empathy, but s now resigned to stonewalling, second-hand, ill-advised rhetoric. Look at her Prime Minister photo with her Hillary hair-do. Do you see the giant forced smile? Lost her way and thus, lost the election.
Now look at the video of Manning conceding. He was arrogant, and I was ecstatic when he was ousted, but I felt something odd looking at him concede. A sadness that seemed to bubble out of nowhere. Because he was no longer the demi-god Manning there. But a man. A broken man. Some would say he came out like a scolded dog to his supporters.
But that took great bravery. He displayed his greatest class there. It's too bad one of his bravest, most formidable moments was among his last in politics.
It is a lesson to us all. Our idiosyncrasies make us human. Our embracing of them makes us affable. Our mistakes terrify us. Our apologies for those mistakes make us intrepid. Our flaws make us vulnerable. Our acceptance of those flaws makes us impenetrable. If you’ve ever seen 8 Mile, you’ll know what I mean.
When Vandana won her seat, I felt a pang of pensiveness for Clarence. If Clarence had won, I would have felt the same for Vandana. It serves as testament to how these two presented themselves.
I think Vandana and Clarence can tell Kamla why she lost. And I think if they replace Kamla with Moonilal, all the upcoming young politicians – JW, Saddam, Anita Haynes, Sean Sobers, Nikoli Edwards, Obika, Michelle Benjamin – can tell him why he will lose as well.
Many congratulations to PM Keith Rowley. Time to face forward now. All of us need to exorcise the douens from within us and make sure our feet are positioned forward as well.
Kevin Jared Hosein is an award-winning novelist and educator living in Chaguanas. He has twice won the Commonwealth Short Story Prize.

[Blaze d Chalice]

Why this selfish lady can't stop holding back the entire country during this added pressure of COVID?

[j.o.e]

Seems all recounts are complete, no significant changes. EBC should be publishing final result soon. Swearing in to follow soon.
Will KPB concede ?

[Lou Screuz]

Why this selfish lady can't stop holding back the entire country during this added pressure of COVID?

what is being held back other than a swearing in ceremony ?

men here had me feeling panic

like it have no government in place because of kamala

then i realize they was lying

the president did clear up that

look the re check and count done

and we will move forward now

[Redress10]

Why this selfish lady can't stop holding back the entire country during this added pressure of COVID?

Should she resign? If after everything that was done to sabotage this campaign and UNC still take Moruga and lose St Joseph by under 900 votes.

A newcomer and unknown vs your MOH who was on tv everyday since March and he still only manage to win a few votes?

Who more popular and liked in the UNC right now over Kams?

[Dohplaydat]

Why this selfish lady can't stop holding back the entire country during this added pressure of COVID?

Should she resign? If after everything that was done to sabotage this campaign and UNC still take Moruga and lose St Joseph by under 900 votes.

A newcomer and unknown vs your MOH who was on tv everyday since March and he still only manage to win a few votes?

Who more popular and liked in the UNC right now over Kams?

No one except Vasant, give it time. He will be our next PM.