UNC Chief Operating Officer Dr Tim Gopeesingh, has shrugged off the defections to the PNM by four UNC members.
UNC councillors Sheldon Garcia, Samuel Sankar, Marcus Girdharie, and youth officer Kaveesh Siewdial have all left the party for the other political party and Gopeesingh, while speaking at UNC’s Sunday morning media briefing at the Opposition Leader’s office in Port-of-Spain, said any member is free to move as they want.
Gopeesingh said politics has its ups and down and idiosyncrasies, as well as the behaviour of certain people.
He said, “In every political party, people may join one organisation, then don’t want to stay there. They’re free to move as they want. There are many more who want to fill your position if you want to move from A to B or B to A.
“But one thing: the UNC has strong measures to determine suitability for governance – and our party has disciplinary measures.
“So, it doesn’t matter to us who wants to move or go where, everyone’s entitled to their choice. But there are hundreds more who want to fill those positions.”
Regarding the Prime Minister’s prediction that the UNC would be soundly beaten in the upcoming local government elections, Gopeesingh added, “Dr Rowley underestimates the people, they’ve had enough of him. You’re baiting the people in a different way, Prime Minister, but don’t go down that way. You’re going on platforms, separating this population; you’re being very dirty and vicious in your approach to governance, trying to win an election.”
Gopeesingh asked the population “Are you satisfied he’s done what he’s supposed to do for T&T? He’s not going to win! We’re going to win this local government election and improve the number of LG seats we have. And we’ll win the general election when it’s called – people are fed-up, he’s brought T&T to its knees. They won’t vote for you, Prime Minister—you’ll be in shock.”