Clint Chan Tack and Corey Connelly
PRIME Minister Stuart Young says the PNM has evidence of efforts by the Opposition UNC to attempt to influence people to vote for its candidates and its coalition partners in the April 28 general election.
Young made this claim on April 5, as he supported statements made by PNM San Fernando West candidate Faris Al-Rawi about evidence of the UNC spending $1.5 million to influence poor and vulnerable people in the constituency to support it on April 28.
Al-Rawi made this statement after filing his nomination papers at the San Fernando North Community Centre on April 4.
"They (UNC) believe and we have the names and places of people that they are targeting because our intelligence is very good."
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Al-Rawi said the constituents of San Fernando West could not be bought.
Addressing the media after touring a new $35 million San Fernando Fishing Centre at King's Wharf, San Fernando, Young said, "I was actually surprised that he (Al-Rawi) was conservative because what we are seeing...we are actually seeing the evidence."
He added what Al-Rawi spoke about was happening in other constituencies across the country.
"We are seeing it in La Horquetta/Talparo. You are seeing it in (Toco/) Sangre Grande. The type of behaviour that you are seeing. So if MP Al-Rawi says that, I am certain he is being conservative.
Young, who is also PNM chairman, claimed, "You are seeing influencers being paid $40,000 to start up with the opposition's messaging."
He added that the UNC's plans do not end there.
"You are also seeing and hearing people, all of a sudden doing all sorts of strange things."
Young claimed the PNM has evidence the UNC and its agents are using artificial intelligence to go on to government websites and PNM websites to create fake profiles and put out false comments.
Young said, "You are seeing an increase of people turning up, offering money to persons to vote and that is the reality."
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The PNM, he continued, is not fazed by this.
"This country is going to decide who is the person best suited to lead us, who is the responsible government and certainly we will not engage in some of that irresponsible behaviour."
Young said it was ironic to hear Opposition Leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar claim legitimate decisions made by Cabinet were in breach of election laws when the same could be said of the alleged actions of the UNC.
Young urged the media to stand by and look at this matter very carefully.
In a WhatsApp response, Opposition Leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar rejected Young and Al-Rawi's claims.
Persad-Bissessar urged citizens not to be fooled by the dirty tricks of the PNM.
She claimed, "Stuart Young was imposed on this nation. He was not chosen by the people."
Persad-Bissessar also claimed Young is clinging to power "with the help of lies, AI-generated filth, and a campaign designed to divide and distract."
Kamla: Do not be fooled by AI
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The Opposition Leader on April 5 responsed to the release of a voice recording on social media on April 4, which purportedly highlighted a conversation between Persad-Bissessar and Chief Secretary Farley Augustine over money that the UNC had allegedly given to him ahead of the December 2021 THA election.
Persad-Bissessar accused the People’s National Movement (PNM) government of using artificial intelligence “to manufacture lies, distort reality and spread propaganda in a desperate attempt to hold on to power,” in the run up to the April 28 general election.
In the clip, which went viral, the two also allegedly discussed strategies to foster greater collaboration between the two parties.
In a statement, Persad-Bissessar dismissed the clip as fake.
She urged the population to not be fooled by AI.
“Don’t be fooled by fake news, fake clips and fake videos. Stay focussed on driving out the darkness. I am warning you, we only have a few days left and their desperation will increase.”
She said the UNC was pushing its plans and policies and focusing on a clean campaign based on facts and its vision for TT.
In response, the PNM’s Tobago Council leader Ancil Dennis in a WhatsApp voicenote said: “All I will say to Ms Kamla Persad-Bissessar is to stop trying to take the people of TT for fools. All of us big and we have sense and we can tell the difference between AI and a normal real conversation between two people, featuring ambient noises.
The question is though what do they have to hide. Why are they so adamant on keeping their relationship and their marriage a secret, hidden from the people of Tobago. Come out open and plain like what Ashworth Jack did in 2010 and then 2013. But I know they are trying to hide this relationship, because it is a relationship that is inimical to the interest of the people of Tobago and all of that will unfold.”
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