“I am strong and ready to take on all comers.”
That’s according Opposition Leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar, as she addressed her party’s national congress on Sunday at the Couva Multi-Purpose Hall.
In light of a recent motion by two members, she maintained that she and her party were at their strongest, adding: “I feel like Hulk. I am strong and ready to take on all-comers.”
Persad-Bissessar told her membership she was not selected, but elected by the people who were her real bosses to lead the party.
“You gave me votes by the thousands and lead we will, right into victory whenever elections are called. We are not a one-woman team, we are a team of many, of great talent.”
She assured that the UNC was a democratic institution and dismissed talk of the party being taken over by a “black caucus”.
Persad-Bissessar said: “I did not know we had a black caucus in the party. We represent all the colours of the rainbow. I am proud of all the black people in the party.”
She told the story of her first real glimpse of racism while in Britain many years ago.
“That was my first encounter with racism,” she said telling her audience that,“ I discovered something, if you are not white, you are black. We are all black – all of us, black together, we are one people.”
She said her party was all-encompassing and diverse.
“We are one family. It does not matter the colour of skin or texture of the hair. We have one purpose, one united UNC family.”
Under her leadership, she said she was focused on changing the face of the party from one of the hereditary aristocracy to one of diversity and meritocracy.
She added, the focus of the UNC is to build the party by speaking with smaller political entities, people who are non-aligned and members who are inactive.
Persad-Bissessar also wants to impress first-time voters, saying the party has already started an outreach programme for new voters.
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