The People's Partnership was given an overwhelming mandate partly based on a promise to provide an across the board pension of $3,000 to everyone attaining the age of 60. For seniors, it was the most attractive proposal in the PP manifesto and helped wavering PNM supporters, many never having crossed party lines, to vote for the UNC-dominated PP.
The proposal was always unrealistic and unaffordable and the then PNM government did not even attempt to match it. With a pension bill that was already approaching $30 billion, approximately half of the country's budget, the proposal was simply untenable and unworkable. That, however, did not stop it from being the most attractive item in the PP manifesto and the single one most people remembered.
No sooner had the party gained office than the PM decided that the promise was a "misprint" and that it was a proposal which the Government could not afford.
http://www.guardian.co.tt/digital/new-members