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Senate shake-up
Kamla to announce new UNC line-up tonight
Anna Ramdass aramdass@trinidadexpress.com
Monday, March 1st 2010
Opposition Leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar will present the new Opposition Senate line-up at the UNC’s public meeting tonight in Diego Martin.
Persad-Bissessar told the Express yesterday that the new persons who will be replacing those who were previously appointed by former opposition leader Basdeo Panday are set to be sworn in tomorrow as notification of their appointments will be sent to President George Maxwell Richards today.
The appointment of new Senators will be Persad-Bissessar’s first major move as Leader of the Opposition, since being elevated to the position last Wednesday.
She reiterated yesterday that UNC deputy leaders Lyndira Oudit and Suruj Rambachan will be appointed and the other appointments will be finalised this morning.
Persad-Bissessar had previously said that the country voted for change in the UNC and that will be reflected on the Senate benches.
This means that current Senators such as Wade Mark, Adesh Nanan, Faisal Mohammed Rahaman, Jennifer Jones-Kernahan and COP member Sharon Gopaul-McNicol will all be given notice to walk.
Oudit was hired by Panday last February, but fired after the UNC internal election on January 24, where she was victorious in securing the post of Deputy Political leader.
Yesterday, Oudit told the Express she was ready to return to do the work of the people.
On Panday’s dismissal of her, she said, ’I really saw it as a desperate attempt to maintaining some sort of control. It actually gave me a much needed break during the Carnival time.’
She said from all evidence seen, the Government is trying to put its house in order and she expects that in the Senate, more legislation would be debated.
’I certainly look forward to an aggressive and dynamic new UNC Opposition team in the Senate,’ she said.
She added that Persad-Bissessar’s appointment as Opposition Leader would bring sustainability to the party and position it as the alternative government.
On another note, Persad-Bissessar will also be speaking about Prime Minister Patrick Manning’s association with the church being built in the Heights of Guanapo in Arima.
’The real issue here is that if State funds are being used. He needs to clear the air. After all, that is taxpayers’ money. It is okay to give land to the religious organisations for their school, for their church, for their temple or their mosque, but it is not okay when it is that you are using State funding to build whatever it is that you are building with no accountability, no transparency,’ she said yesterday during Phagwa celebrations in Tunapuna. (See Page 7)
Persad-Bissessar said she has obtained a copy of the Cabinet note outlining the reason why Government would have gotten involved in the building of the Lighthouse of the Lord Jesus Christ.
’I will be going into details of what he said because there are several inaccuracies in what he said in the Parliament and I will deal with those to show that again, even when he tries to come clean and give an explanation, he is still inaccurate,’ Persad-Bissessar said.
Speaking to the Express following the meeting, Adesh Nanan said he congratulated Persad-Bissessar for ’having the strength to reinstate Mark’. However, Nanan told the Express that he did not know if the strategy was to have Warner criticise Mark so that when he (Mark) is appointed, he will be beholden to the political leader because she ’fought’ for him.
Everyone was happy Mark was reappointed because he was ’always prepared, always fighting and his record of attendance is 100 per cent’, Nanan said.
About his own revocation, Nanan said: ’I took a stand that I was supporting Basdeo Panday 100 per cent and I would stand the consequences of that action.’
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