SITTING UNC alderman at the Siparia Borough Corporation (SBC) Victor Roberts has indicated his intention to pledge allegiance to the PNM.
Roberts, who recently resigned from the UNC’s La Brea constituency executive but retained his membership, says he may soon be changing his colour from yellow to red.
Roberts attended the PNM’s Point Fortin political meeting on April 8. He wore a coloured T-Shirt resembling the colour red.
Former UNC member attorney Larry Lalla has resigned from the UNC and switched allegiance to the PNM. He even mounted a PNM platform. Former minister in the PP government led by then prime minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar, Dr Devant Maharaj has also indicated his attraction to the PNM.
Prime Minister Stuart Young has extended an open invitation for all to join his party.
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In an interview with the media after the meeting, Roberts said, “This is the second meeting I have attended. I wanted to hear exactly what Prime Minister Stuart Young is offering the country, and based on what I heard here tonight I am saying that he convinced me, and very soon, he will be seeing me with a red jersey on.
He said what Young was offering to the young people and to this country aligned with what he envisioned should be happening, “as it relates to development of the young people in this society...
“As it is, Stuart Young has since convinced me.”
He acknowledged being a critic of PNM policies, explaining, “What I’m seeing now it is a new direction. I am hearing new things. I am hearing things that convinced me that this is the direction in which the country needs to go, and I am prepared to support that.”
He had no kind words for UNC Political Leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar, saying she had surrounded herself with what he considered to be “yes men...
“In order for a party to move forward, you need transparency and you need accountability, and in the UNC at this point in time, there is no transparency, there is no accountability and, therefore, I can no longer support Kamla Persad-Bissessar and this version of the UNC.”
Responding to plans to remove him from his seat on the corporation and to expel him from the party, Roberts said he was not afraid of being booted out of the position.
“I was not born an alderman,” he said.
During his tenure, he said, his focus had not been on party but on service to the people.
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“I am there to represent the people. From the inception, I never represented a party, per se. When I was sworn in, I supported the people of the Borough of Siparia.”
Should he be allowed to continue, he insisted, “All my voting going forward, will be in the interest of the people of the borough.
“I’m hearing all kinds of rumours, who want to expel and who want to remove and all that, but there is a legal process.
“If and when that bridge reach, I will cross that bridge. I have no fear about anybody removing me or expelling me or anything like that, because as I said before, when my mother gave birth to me, she gave birth to a brown-skinned baby boy. She did not give birth to an alderman in the SBC.
“I am prepared to make my sacrifice as it relates to the interest of the people of this country and, honestly, the UNC has since lost direction.
“They have since lost their way, and sadly this is the outcome of a failed leader and a failed national executive.”
When Roberts and other members of the executive resigned earlier this year, Persad-Bissessar was dismissive and said it would not make a difference.
Asked to comment on Roberts appearance at the PNM meeting, UNC chair Dave Tancoo declined, saying he was dealing with "real issues of national importance.”
