Marcelle accuses government of using ”PNM” as slur

AKASH SAMA­ROO

Lead Ed­i­tor – News­gath­er­ing

Laven­tille West MP Ka­reem Mar­celle has crit­i­cised the Unit­ed Na­tion­al Con­gress (UNC), ac­cus­ing the par­ty of be­ing hos­tile to­ward Afro-Trinida­di­ans and com­mu­ni­ties that have tra­di­tion­al­ly sup­port­ed the Peo­ple’s Na­tion­al Move­ment (PNM).

Speak­ing at a PNM pub­lic meet­ing in Laven­tille West on Thurs­day night, the con­stituen­cy MP launched a strong at­tack on Prime Min­is­ter Kam­la Per­sad-Bisses­sar and the gov­ern­ing UNC, al­leg­ing that the par­ty has dis­re­gard­ed African com­mu­ni­ties and PNM sup­port­ers.

“They hate African peo­ple, they hate black peo­ple, they hate peo­ple from Beetham, they hate peo­ple from Sea Lots, they hate peo­ple from Mal­oney, they hate peo­ple from La Hor­quet­ta, they hate peo­ple from Train Line, they hate peo­ple from Ari­ma, they hate peo­ple from Care­nage, they hate we,” Mar­celle told sup­port­ers.

Mar­celle al­so ar­gued that crit­i­cism di­rect­ed at PNM sup­port­ers amount­ed to un­fair treat­ment.

“Our for­mer Prime Min­is­ter, the Ho­n­ourable Stu­art Young, just asked what is a PNM per­son to the UNC. Well, let me tell you, I ain't afraid to say, when­ev­er they say PNM peo­ple on so­cial me­dia, to me it's the new 'N' word,” Mar­celle said.

He said PNM sup­port­ers were be­ing un­fair­ly por­trayed and ac­cused the gov­ern­ing par­ty of look­ing down on them.

Ad­dress­ing sup­port­ers in his con­stituen­cy, Mar­celle ac­knowl­edged that he re­mained a di­vi­sive fig­ure among some res­i­dents but said po­lit­i­cal di­vi­sions ex­ist­ed on both sides.

“Laven­tille West, PNM peo­ple, they don't like me and they will nev­er like me,” he said.

“But I want them to know that we don't like them and we will nev­er like them.”

Mar­celle end­ed his re­marks by chal­leng­ing Per­sad-Bisses­sar to call a gen­er­al elec­tion, say­ing the PNM’s sup­port base re­mained mo­ti­vat­ed de­spite be­ing out of gov­ern­ment.

“If you feel that your poll­sters telling you that you can call an elec­tion and win the elec­tion, Kam­la Per­sad-Bisses­sar, I'm pray­ing, I'm wait­ing,” he said.

“The PNM peo­ple, we're kneel­ing. The PNM peo­ple, we're griev­ing. The PNM peo­ple are ready. The PNM peo­ple are ready for elec­tion.”

Mar­celle al­so claimed that if Per­sad-Bisses­sar called an elec­tion, vot­ers would in­stead sup­port Op­po­si­tion Leader Pen­ne­lope Beck­les-Robin­son for Prime Min­is­ter.

“If you name Bad­john, if you feel you can cuff down every­body in Trinidad and To­ba­go, if you name the Bad­john from Siparia, call an elec­tion now,” he said.

“Call it. And we will show you that we will elect as our Prime Min­is­ter in the Re­pub­lic of Trinidad and To­ba­go, Pen­ne­lope Beck­les-Robin­son.”

Sources with­in the par­ty said Mar­celle’s re­marks did not re­ceive uni­ver­sal sup­port.

Guardian Me­dia has reached out to Leader of Gov­ern­ment Busi­ness Bar­ry Padarath for com­ment.