KAY-MARIE FLETCH­ER

Se­nior Re­porter

kay-marie.fletch­er@guardian.co.tt

Op­po­si­tion Leader Kam­la Per­sad-Bisses­sar has got­ten her wish to have in­de­pen­dent in­ter­na­tion­al ob­servers for the Gen­er­al Elec­tion on April 28. The an­nounce­ment was made by Prime Min­is­ter Stu­art Young dur­ing his first post-Cab­i­net meet­ing as the new head of Gov­ern­ment at White­hall, Port-of-Spain, yes­ter­day.

The Prime Min­is­ter re­vealed that Gov­ern­ment had in­vit­ed three bod­ies, in­clud­ing Cari­com, the Com­mon­wealth Sec­re­tari­at and the Carter Cen­ter, to as­sist in the ob­ser­va­tion of the elec­tion.

On Thurs­day, Per­sad-Bisses­sar wrote to Young, ur­gent­ly re­quest­ing that Gov­ern­ment in­vite in­de­pen­dent in­ter­na­tion­al elec­tion ob­servers, af­ter for­mer prime min­is­ter Dr Row­ley on­ly in­vit­ed Cari­com elec­tion ob­servers.

In Per­sad-Bisses­sar’s let­ter to Young, she said in­ter­na­tion­al elec­tion ob­servers had mon­i­tored T&T’s gen­er­al elec­tions since 2000, en­sur­ing trans­paren­cy and fair­ness. How­ev­er, she point­ed out that in 2020, for the first time in 20 years, ob­servers were ab­sent.

How­ev­er, Young said be­fore he re­ceived Per­sad-Bisses­sar’s let­ter, he had al­ready sent an of­fi­cial let­ter re­quest­ing the Com­mon­wealth Sec­re­tari­at—which con­sists of in­ter­na­tion­al ob­servers—to pro­vide ob­servers for the elec­tion.

Yes­ter­day, Young said a let­ter was sent to Cari­com in­form­ing them of the April 28 elec­tion date.

This fol­lows a Jan­u­ary 13 let­ter from the Cari­com Sec­re­tary Gen­er­al com­mit­ting to send­ing elec­tion ob­servers when­ev­er the elec­tion is called.

Young said he’s al­so in­struct­ed For­eign and Cari­com Af­fairs Min­is­ter Dr Amery Browne to send cor­re­spon­dence to the Carter Cen­ter ask­ing for their as­sis­tance as well.

He said his ef­forts are to en­sure there are no dis­trac­tions in the elec­tion, as has been the case in the past.

“We, as a gov­ern­ment and cer­tain­ly as a par­ty, in­tend to have free and fair elec­tions as we’ve al­ways had, and as the Elec­tions and Bound­aries Com­mis­sion (EBC) has al­ways car­ried out in Trinidad and To­ba­go. What we learn from our mis­takes, we learn from his­to­ry, mean­ing that we see every time a par­tic­u­lar par­ty los­es an elec­tion in Trinidad, they look for every ex­cuse as to why it is they’ve lost and they run to the courts, et cetera,” Young said.

“We have ab­solute­ly noth­ing to hide in Trinidad and To­ba­go. I am proud as a cit­i­zen that we’ve al­ways had free and fair elec­tions. So, to take away that, we have in­vit­ed those three bod­ies. We will in­vite the Carter Cen­ter as well to send peo­ple here to come and ob­serve our free and fair elec­tions.”

Young al­so de­fend­ed his de­ci­sion to main­tain Cari­com ob­servers fol­low­ing Per­sad-Bisses­sar’s claims that there’s a con­flict of in­ter­est, since the Cari­com As­sis­tant Sec­re­tary Gen­er­al, Eliz­a­beth Solomon, is the wife of for­mer at­tor­ney gen­er­al Regi­nald Ar­mour.

Rub­bish­ing these claims, Young said while he was not sur­prised by her re­marks, Ar­mour’s wife is a pro­fes­sion­al.

He added, “I have seen that the Leader of the Op­po­si­tion has put very spu­ri­ous chal­lenges to the body that is Cari­com. I want to state very firm­ly here from this plat­form, on be­half of Trinidad and To­ba­go, Trinidad and To­ba­go is a mem­ber of Cari­com. We are not on­ly a proud mem­ber of Cari­com, but we will con­tin­ue to be at the fore­front of the de­fence of Cari­com. Cari­com has a very im­por­tant role to play ... We will not dis­re­spect Cari­com in any man­ner. The Leader of the Op­po­si­tion and all cit­i­zens are en­ti­tled to their opin­ions. They’re en­ti­tled to free speech.”

Guardian Me­dia reached out to Per­sad-Bisses­sar for com­ment but got no re­spond up to press time.

How­ev­er, UNC PRO Dr Kirk Meighoo took to so­cial me­dia yes­ter­day, post­ing, “Stu­art Young ac­cedes to the de­mand of the Hon. Kam­la Per­sad-Bisses­sar.”