On May 24, 2010, our citizens joined together to make a great national decision: who would govern the country for the next five years. Our citizens took the chance of reversing the results of the 2007 general election and gave a clear mandate to the UNC dominated People’s Partnership Coalition to govern.
However, the ensuing five years which followed, one can recall, had been an emotional rollercoaster ride for the nation. During that period, there was a serious crisis of public confidence in the leadership of this country.
The Section 34 debacle, in particular had demonstrated without a shadow of a doubt, that the former administration was the most lethal and dangerous in the history of our beloved country, and in the court of public opinion, that government could no longer be trusted.
It simply lacked the moral authority to continue to govern and while it continuously defined morality on its national platform, it appeared that there was none. The standards of decency and accountability had already been eroded.
Owing to the national wave of concern which swept across the country on the Section 34 fiasco, a well informed electorate on realizing that vigilance was the key to our survival voted them out of office in the 2015 general elections.
Today, that same party with some of its former players, those masked behind the scenes and some brought out in full view of the public domain is asking the electorate to give them another chance.
However, while the Proclamation of section 34 of the Administration of Justice (Indictable Proceedings) Act. was quickly repealed and the repeal made retroactive to deal with those who had filed applications during the short period the legislation was in force, nonetheless the Section 34 transgression remains a permanent indictment on the part of the UNC.
As the former UNC regime tries to regain office trusting in the belief that our society is truly a nine-days wonder; that the electorate would no longer remember the Section 34 debacle which transpired under its watch, the UNC rallies ahead in the hope for a resounding victory over the PNM which replaced them and went on to bring our country back to a period of stability and normalcy once again
Therefore, what the PNM seeks in Monday 10, August, 2020, general elections is not merely a victory for the party, but a victory for the people.