Op­po­si­tion Leader Kam­la Per­sad-Bisses­sar has promised that if she re­turns as prime min­is­ter, no child in the coun­try will have a Christ­mas with­out a gift.

Per­sad-Bisses­sar did so at Mon­day’s UNC Re­port at Cou­va, where she slammed Prime Min­is­ter Dr Kei­th Row­ley on his fail­ure to get the Gov­ern­ment-Op­po­si­tion an­ti-crime talks go­ing and al­so con­demned al­leged “peace” deals be­tween po­lice and gangs.

Per­sad-Bisses­sar said many UNC MPs and coun­cil­lors will be host­ing Christ­mas treats and toy dis­tri­b­u­tions over the next month.

“I hope that the Gov­ern­ment choos­es to do some­thing for the chil­dren for Christ­mas. A lot of chil­dren do not en­joy a good Christ­mas be­cause of their cir­cum­stances.

“That’s why when I was your prime min­is­ter, every year we went around the coun­try to treat our chil­dren. At least to give them a gift and love for the Christ­mas sea­son,” she added.

Per­sad-Bisses­sar re­count­ed her work as PM at Christ­mas time, dis­trib­ut­ing toys to chil­dren and ham­pers for MPS to give con­stituents, giv­ing church­es grants and re­duc­ing ba­sic food prices for two days. She not­ed the po­si­tion of then Op­po­si­tion leader Dr Row­ley (now Prime Min­is­ter) against his MPs ac­cept­ing the ham­pers for con­stituents.

She said: “That is the be­hav­iour and think­ing of that man. Ego­cen­tric. Let his own con­stituents suf­fer. No prob­lem with 250 re­cusals (of min­is­ters now), but prob­lems with giv­ing ham­pers to the needy, prob­lems with Chil­dren’s Life Fund, prob­lems with schol­ar­ships, and prob­lems with any­thing to help peo­ple.

“The cost of liv­ing is at an all-time high, and many poor fam­i­lies, the el­der­ly and sin­gle moth­ers are en­dur­ing a nu­tri­tion­al cri­sis, which could lead to an ex­plo­sion of health prob­lems.

“So, when I re­turn as your prime min­is­ter, no child in this coun­try will have a Christ­mas with­out a gift to feel a lit­tle love and hap­pi­ness.”

She added: “No fam­i­ly will go hun­gry for Christ­mas be­cause the rev­enue of this coun­try is sup­posed to be spent on you. The oil and gas rev­enue are sup­posed to be spent on you. The tax rev­enue is sup­posed to be spent on you. The UNC is a gov­ern­ment of love and care for the peo­ple.”

Per­sad-Bisses­sar, who com­pared her gov­ern­ment’s achieve­ments with the cur­rent sit­u­a­tion and cit­ed T&T’s crime prob­lem, said, “I guar­an­tee we will make ac­cess to le­gal firearms for law-abid­ing cit­i­zens a pri­or­i­ty and com­bine that with stand your ground laws.

“Crime has cre­at­ed an un­de­clared civ­il war in the once-peace­ful T&T. We are the world’s most dread­ful non-war killing zone—and the blood-let­ting is get­ting worse dai­ly.”