Is this the language expected from the highest office in our land?
If Kamla Persad-Bissessar finds it difficult or beyond her capacity to elevate the national discourse, she should at least try not to drag it down to rum-shop level.
One would think that as the current leader of a party that has been accused by its detractors, and even apolitical citizens, of lowering the standards of governance in the country, since its first [Panday] administration, she would try her best not to justify the "low class" label that has been so routinely assigned to its 'modus operandi'.
But, Trinidad and Tobago is still a democracy, and as leader of the UNC, Kamla Persad-Bissessar is entitled to make an ass of herself whenever and wherever she pleases. It is also her right to give the party's supporters the level of leadership she thinks they deserve, which clearly, they seem to endorse.
But as Prime Minister of the country, she owes the people a great deal more - even those who have been blindly accepting what she has been throwing out as 'leadership' for the past eighteen months.
Insulting citizens who disagree with her, and disparaging independent office holders who criticize legislation brought by her government is not leadership.
Even though Ms. Persad-Bissessar will be no more than an unpleasant memory - hopefully, in the not too distant future, given the biblical allusion to three score and ten as the nominal span of human life - the stain she would have inflicted on the country's institutions will remain long after she has departed this life.
Having said all that, I must also state my disappointment in and loss of respect for the independent senators and attorneys for their failure to appropriately respond to her barrage of abuse against them. Her words make me wonder if they will accept being branded as 'eat ah food' senators, as though they are so 'hungry for ah senate wuk' that they have become suckers for insults and gluttons for verbal abuse. They seem willing to tolerate the debasement of their characters - and by extension their families' good names - by a woman who should be the last to call people's integrity into question.
Independent senators should not be talking about holy water and mantras." In defense of the Senate’s integrity - as well as their family's good names - they should be hitting back at Ms. Persad-Bissessar on the same level she chose to descend. They must launch a blistering broadside against her - under parliamentary privilege - to match the tone and content of her attacks against them. Put it on the Senate record then walk out and resign their commissions on principle.
Maintaining the lofty, moral high ground is of little use when the grass under your feet is being cut by an opponent to whom class has less meaning than a necklace of pearls around a swine's neck. Sometimes one has to descend into the gutter to meet one's opponents, because they will certainly not come out of the gutter to meet you, more so, when they continually demonstrate their preparedness to wage battle with you from that level.
Let Ms. Persad-Bissessar explain to the country and the international community why nine citizens of good repute would give up the prestige of the Senate rather than tolerate the likes of her.
Ms. Persad-Bissessar would be embarrassed beyond redemption, not only because of the mass resignations but because of the damaging contents of the broadside. Because the senators would have spoken within the Senate walls, they cannot be sued. And because they resigned, they will not face senate sanction or be accused of stooping just to "keep ah senate wuk."
My final exhortation to the senators, hit back, and hit back hard, if not harder. Your resignations would prove to the public the principled, self-respecting individuals you are, what you represent and what you will not tolerate. Kamla Persad-Bissessar's utterances have already given the world great insight into who she is, what she represents and what she is comfortable with.
Having said all that, I must also state my disappointment in and loss of respect for the independent senators and attorneys for their failure to appropriately respond to her barrage of abuse against them. Her words make me wonder if they will accept being branded as 'eat ah food' senators, as though they are so 'hungry for ah senate wuk' that they have become suckers for insults and gluttons for verbal abuse. They seem willing to tolerate the debasement of their characters - and by extension their families' good names - by a woman who should be the last to call people's integrity into question.
Independent senators should not be talking about holy water and mantras." In defense of the Senate’s integrity - as well as their family's good names - they should be hitting back at Ms. Persad-Bissessar on the same level she chose to descend. They must launch a blistering broadside against her - under parliamentary privilege - to match the tone and content of her attacks against them. Put it on the Senate record then walk out and resign their commissions on principle.
Maintaining the lofty, moral high ground is of little use when the grass under your feet is being cut by an opponent to whom class has less meaning than a necklace of pearls around a swine's neck. Sometimes one has to descend into the gutter to meet one's opponents, because they will certainly not come out of the gutter to meet you, more so, when they continually demonstrate their preparedness to wage battle with you from that level.
Let Ms. Persad-Bissessar explain to the country and the international community why nine citizens of good repute would give up the prestige of the Senate rather than tolerate the likes of her.
Ms. Persad-Bissessar would be embarrassed beyond redemption, not only because of the mass resignations but because of the damaging contents of the broadside. Because the senators would have spoken within the Senate walls, they cannot be sued. And because they resigned, they will not face senate sanction or be accused of stooping just to "keep ah senate wuk."
My final exhortation to the senators, hit back, and hit back hard, if not harder. Your resignations would prove to the public the principled, self-respecting individuals you are, what you represent and what you will not tolerate. Kamla Persad-Bissessar's utterances have already given the world great insight into who she is, what she represents and what she is comfortable with.
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