Carisa Lee

Re­porter

carisa.lee@cnc3.co.tt

Prime Min­is­ter Kam­la Per­sad-Bisses­sar says al­though the Unit­ed Na­tion­al Con­gress (UNC) won a 26-seat ma­jor­i­ty in the April 28 Gen­er­al Elec­tion, which gives them a three-fifths ma­jor­i­ty in the low­er house, they will not mis­use their au­thor­i­ty.

“We thank the peo­ple of T&T for giv­ing us that ma­jor­i­ty be­cause that’s how the law is. We will need that ma­jor­i­ty from time to time, but I give the as­sur­ance to­day that we will not abuse that pow­er that you have giv­en us,” Per­sad-Bisses­sar said yes­ter­day as she ad­dressed the gath­er­ing at the cer­e­mo­ni­al open­ing of 13th Re­pub­li­can Par­lia­ment at the Red House, Port-of-Spain.

Ac­knowl­edg­ing the his­toric mo­ment of three po­lit­i­cal par­ties be­ing rep­re­sent­ed in the Low­er House for the first time in 25 years, Per­sad-Bisses­sar said the elec­torate did not vote mere­ly for a new gov­ern­ment but for long-term struc­tur­al change, which her ad­min­is­tra­tion in­tends to de­liv­er with the spe­cial ma­jor­i­ty it now holds.

“In this new Par­lia­ment, we will pass laws that mat­ter, laws that pro­tect, up­lift and em­pow­er our cit­i­zens,” she said.

As she re­mind­ed her Cab­i­net that they were in the peo­ple’s house, the Prime Min­is­ter said they would “fix what has been bro­ken.”

Per­sad-Bisses­sar said they must re­store jobs, in­come and con­fi­dence, as well as reignite the en­gine of growth and re­build ed­u­ca­tion, health­care and na­tion­al se­cu­ri­ty.

“We will be­gin by pri­ori­tis­ing safe­ty in our homes and com­mu­ni­ties,” she said.

She de­scribed crime as more than just a sta­tis­tic in this coun­try but rather a dai­ly ter­ror for too many fam­i­lies, added that the UNC’s agen­da will in­clude both leg­isla­tive and an­oth­er method to fight crime.

“We will give our ju­di­cia­ry and law en­force­ment of­fi­cers the nec­es­sary tools and sup­port whilst we in­vest in pre­ven­tion, ed­u­ca­tion and com­mu­ni­ty de­vel­op­ment,” Per­sad-Bisses­sar said.

An­oth­er is­sue high on the new ad­min­is­tra­tion’s agen­da is tack­ling the cost of liv­ing. Say­ing her par­ty was com­mit­ted to help­ing the work­ing class, Per­sad-Bisses­sar said they will look at the cost of gro­ceries and gas, as well as re­view tax bur­dens and ne­go­ti­ate fair­ly with the labour move­ment.

“We will be­gin al­so to re­store the pub­lic ser­vice, not with hand­outs or emp­ty rhetoric but re­spect, re­form and re­sults,” she shared.

To do this, she said she the UNC will open the doors to all stake­hold­ers.

Not­ing that the next five years will not be easy, Per­sad-Bisses­sar said they will in­vest in peo­ple, re­ward hand­work and pro­tect the vul­ner­a­ble.

“We will put God in front and walk be­hind,” she said.

She said with the sup­port of the peo­ple of Trinidad and To­ba­go and with God’s guid­ance, they will do the best they can to get the job done.