THE
honeymoon is officially over and the front bench of the People’s
National Movement (PNM) seems ready to offload its ammunition on
Opposition Leader, Kamla Persad-Bissessar.
That’s evident from the shout-down which she earned herself
at the very start of the sitting of the Lower House which was supposed
to adopt the report of the Finance Committee and then debate “The
Variation of Appropriations Bill” which gives the government
an additional $4 billion to spend until September.
Prime Minister Patrick Manning had just finished explaining that
he intends to remove the Trinity Cross as the Highest Award, when
Kamla, whose petition to Parliament was therefore made null and
void, jumped to her feet.
Of course, she exercised very bad judgement as there is nothing
in the rules of the House that allows for a response to a statement.
So she was promptly booed down and had to take her seat.
That was the second let-down for the afternoon, after the Speaker
warned the MPs about publicising petitions before they are read
to the House.
Kamla was the guilty one, having paraded her petition to remove
the Trinity Cross for a couple of days before it was read in the
House.
Nevertheless, the show continued, when Junior Finance Minister Conrad
Enill introduced the motion for the House to adopt the report of
the Finance Committee.
The lady jumped to her feet when it was time for the Opposition’s
reply, ungraciously refusing to allow the real brains in the party
to lead off the debate, as usual.
But what did she have to say? Nothing really.
Her researchers broke down the statistics for her to report to the
House that the PNM will be spending $5.9 million an hour, given
the additional $4 billion allocation.
And she lamented the fact that while in office the United National
Congress (UNC) spent a total of $54 billion.
Then she carried on about the “ordinary man in the street”
and noted that the two blimps purchased by the government are of
“no use to the people.”
Laventille East-Morvant MP, Fitzgerald Hinds quickly responded “Neither
is the UNC,” bringing broad smiles to people who were seeking
relief from Kamla’s boring attempt to prove that she is a
Jenny of all trades.
It more or less descended into old talk, after that, as the PNM
front-liners heckled her, made snide remarks and generally began
the process of disrespecting her, which was formalised when Colm
Imbert officially responded to her contribution.
In fact, when she tried to mamaguy Caroni East MP Ganga Singh about
the water project under his watch as Public Utilities Minister,
House Leader Ken Valley shouted across the floor “Ganga you
give pipe?” before he started to laugh and shake his head.
In the end she sabotaged the very same debate over which she tried
to convey so much concern.
Only Manohar Ramsarran, Adesh Nanan and Chandradesh Sharma contributed
to the debate, which left no one any more enlightened about government’s
squandermania.
This is just the start and Kamla’s petticoat is showing, there
is no doubt that the boys in the PNM are priming to tug at her undergarments
which she, by her foolish behaviour, has allowed to slip. |
